The Witches of Apartment 1307
by Roz Under Pressure
Summary: College changes a witch... It turns enemies into roommates, roommates into friends and might even turn friends into lovers, and that's just what happens to their cats!
1. How To Get a Roommate Without Really

**Chapter 1 - How to Get a Roommate Without Really Trying**

"How did I got myself into this?" Mildred Hubble asked a rather pertinent question as she dragged a blackout drunk Ethel Hallow back to her ridiculously big apartment near Weirdsisters'. Propping her up against the elevator wall, finally breathing easy for the first time since she had to save her long time rival from a predicament created by no one, but the middle Hallow herself.

"Ethel, where are your keys?" Mildred asked as she patted for the other woman's pockets, trying to find anything even vaguely key shaped or sounding, until she finally found it in the pocket of her jacket and pulled it out with a triumphant; "Aha!"

Ethel giggled a little, staring at her and Millie side eyed her for as long as she could until the elevator doors opened and she once again picked up the blonde and went towards the apartment.

All things considered, Mildred was rather thankful for Ethel being a frequent user of the restaurant she used to work to and had to make deliveries for, since trying to coax the address, floor, and apartment number from her in that state didn't seem likely. But there it was, the 13 floor, apartment 1307, two very lucky numbers if you were a witch, also a floor that only witches knew about and lived in anyway.

"Come on Ethel!" Mildred said, and dragged her inside, patting for the light switch and turning it on, only to be met by Nightstar, sitting on top of the kitchen table, staring at them with judgement in her eyes. "Hey Nightstar, nice to see you..." The brown haired witch said, kicked the door closed behind her and finally lost her patience,hoisting Ethel over her shoulder quite easily so she could walk more freely, towards what she assume was her bedroom.

"There!" She said, unloading the girl onto the bed and standing to stretch herself out when she felt someone grabbing her. "Ethel, no! Let me go! You'll won't think this was a good idea tomorrow."

~0~

If Nightstar could do it, she would have sighed and rolled her eyes as she observed her witch moaning in pain from her hangover, but instead she just stared judgementaly for a few minutes, as cats are known to do, before going to the bedside table and opening the first drawer by biting the loose metal handle with her teeth. Standing on her hind legs she looked into the drawer, sniffing until she found a small green flask and picked it up with her mouth.

She jumped onto the bed and walked over Mildred's face and chest without a second thought and put the flask right by Ethel's face, before walking away, curling up on top of a shelf, going back to her previous judgemental look upon her witch.

Ethel groaned, but let go of the slim, yet nicely muscled arm she was clinging to and reached for the potion in a well trained motion, opening the flask and drinking all of it in one go, frowning at the horrible taste. It was worth it, however, since as soon as she drank it, her headache and hangover where gone and she sat up on her bed, stretching out, noticing in the deep darkness of her room the form laying beside her and groaning.

'Oh god! I can't believe I got some guy home with me...' She admonished herself, rubbing her face roughly and then kicked the covers off, determined to open the curtains and tell him that whatever happened, he should leave.

"Wakey, wakey, time to go home!" She said, loudly, in her usual sardonic tone .

Millie groaned and pulled the covers more tightly over herself, whining back; "Oh, come on Mum, let me sleep just a little more..."

Never in her life had color drained so quickly from her face as when Ethel Hallow turned around to find, a THANKFULLY FULLY DRESSED, Mildred Hubble lying in her bed, curled up under her covers and snuggling her pillow!

She was speechless, cold, scared, shocked, and, deep down, a little aroused, until, from the depths of her throat, a hoarse, deep scream that could only come from someone that had just woken up erupted;

"MILDRED HUBBLE?"

Millie jumped from the bed and shot up, standing on her feet; "I AM UP MISS HARDBROOM! Sorry I called you mum!" she looked around, lost, looking for her Cackles uniform, slowly taking in her surroundings till she saw Ethel standing there, staring at her. "Oh… It's just you." She groaned, rubbing her face.

"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" Ethel asked between gritted teeth, giving her a murderous look.

Millie, however, was quite unmoved by it all, as she rubbed her face and groaned; "I told you this would happen yesterday," she stretched "I brought you home after you got drunk and got on a table, loudly singing the Cackles' school song and someone called the Witch Cops on you." She moved her neck around. "So yeah, to put it briefly; You got drunk and almost got arrested for violating the Code and revealing our existence… Fortunately everybody was pretty drunk," Then mutters, under her breath. "especially you," at normal volume once more, "so I doubt anyone will even remember it."

The explanation made Ethel's anger subside a little; "We didn't…?" she let the words hang in air, side eyeing Millie who frowned deeply and wrinkled her nose before responding;

"No, Ethel, we didn't. We just slept..."

"Why were you in my bed?"

"Because you clung to me like a baby koala and wouldn't let me go!" Millie explained with an exaggerated shrug.

The blonde blushed deeply at that. This whole thing was very embarrassing, it involving Mildred Hubble of all people only made it worse. Still, she had to admit, what Mildred did was both kind and life-saving. If the police had taken her, chances are that Ursula and Ulises Hallow would had been called, who knows, Weirdsisters might even have expelled her, but due to Millie's quick thinking, while the Cackles song could had been a clue, it wouldn't count as conclusive evidence.

After all, being caught disobeying the Code was the last thing that a student of Witch Code Law needed.

"I guess I owe you one." Ethel rubbed her own arm, looking down "How about we have some breakfast… Then we can forget about all of this and move on."

"Alright, I suppose..." Millie responded; "What do you have?"

"There is a cafe I love nearby," Ethel said. "Come on, I'll pay."

"Actually, if you're talking about _Mama Joanna's_ , it's closed." She paused, adding; "It's Sunday and she is Catholic."

"Shit..." Ethel mumbled under her breath, rubbing her forehead.

Millie sighed, but smiled a little; "I'll see what I can put together from what is in your fridge." She walked out of the room into the open plan kitchen, starting to look in the cabinets and fridge.

Ethel soon followed, sitting down on the kitchen table while yawning, still sleepy, putting her elbow on the table hand under her chin to observe Mildred; "I can't cook so there isn't much there."

"I used to deliver you food at least five times a week, I know." Mildred responded, but continued looking, surprised by some findings; "Hey, there is some flour and baking powder here. I thought you said you couldn't cook?"

"Oh yeah… That was Esmie… She sends a care package every few weeks, mostly stuff she knows I'll eat, but sometimes she sends those and tells me I should learn how to cook." Ethel rolled her eyes at the thought.

Mildred rolled her eyes; "Ethel Hallow? Cooking? Madness."

The blonde frowned, as Nightstar came to curl on her lap; "When did you got so cheeky, Hubble?"

"College does things to a woman." Millie said with a crooked grin as she started to whip some pancake batter together, a small smile came to her lips as she worked and even her tongue poked out as she worked the batter with a wooden spoon. Ethel was rather entranced by it, to the point when she had to force a dead panned sarcastic comment out to break her out of it.

"You know, if you had the ability to remember potions ingredients like you can remember the pancake ones, HB would have liked you far more."

To her surprise, Mildred laughed; "I am better I remembering things I enjoy. Hard for HB to compete with me making breakfast for my mum by being terrifying." She started pouring the batter in the frying pan, smiling openly at some fond memories; "Sometimes she would have the night shift at the hospital and only get back home around eight am. I learned how to make these so she would eat something before getting some sleep. I made them so much I know all the ingredients by heart."

Ethel frowned to herself a little at that, trying to pretend that deep down she wasn't feeling, frankly, jealous of that relationship.

She had seen Julie Hubble with Mildred both in Cackles and in the first day at Weirdsisters; how they hugged and cried when they said goodbye, how close they were to the point they spoke frankly and openly, even a bit conspiratorial in a good way, how they seemed to have their own inside jokes and a shared sense of humor, things that Ethel never had had with Ursula… Hell, things Esmeralda and Sybil never had with Ursula, much less her.

"Why were you even at the bar anyway?" The middle Hallow suddenly asked, sounding more annoyed and confrontational than she intended, remembering the bar because those thoughts honestly made her want a drink.

"Uh…" Mildred started, blushing deeply. "My roommate had a guest and" she paused "I just rather not be there."

"Guest huh?" Ethel rose an eyebrow. "Was she shagging that guest?"

Millie groaned.

The blonde wanted to laugh."You're such a prude, Hubble."

"I have to share a ROOM with her! Do you have any idea how uncomfortable that is? Trying to sleep while two people fuck the next bed over?" She said, blushing hard at the swear word.

"Yeah, especially when you're obviously not getting any." Ethel teased and Mildred side-eyed her as she stacked the pancakes up. "What? I never seen you with a guy ever!" Ethel added.

"And you never will." Millie said, blushing slightly, pouring honey she found on the back of cabinet on the stacks and brings her the plate.

The blonde frowned, thinking for a second; "Oh, I see… Alright, but I never seen you with a girl either."

Mildred sighed; "I rather be with someone in a more permanent basis; You know, find a girl, date her, cook for her…"

"No offence Hubble, thanks for the pancakes, but I am not interested." Ethel said, eliciting a humorless "haha" from Mildred, just as she started eating the first bite of her pancakes, and sweet god, it was like heaven, the best pancake she'd ever eaten. "Oh, god, this is amazing!" She took another bite. "I actually might be slightly interested now."

Millie ignored her and started eating her own pancakes; "I have nothing against people having sex, the problem is that I don't feel comfortable in my own room." She explained. "Makes me miss Cackles, at least I had a room all of my own there." Still, as soon as she said that, she realized she missed Cackles for many reasons actually, Enid and Maud being around and not in a college all the way in Scotland, for instance.

Ethel looked at her for sometime, licking her lips to clean some of the honey in them; "Why don't you move in with me then?"

The brunette looked at her, pancake hanging on the fork half way to her mouth that was agape; "W-what?"

Hallow sighed and spoke slowly; "Why don't you move with me then?" And after huffing, she added; "I know you pay for your dorm and I need extra cash… Plus, you can cook."

Mildred put her fork down. "Don't your parents pay for this place?"

Ethel looked away, hiding her frowning slightly; "My parents said that if I wanted to be here I would have to pay the same rate as anyone else renting in this building, which they take from my allowance, which will be diminished if my grades go down even by one tenth, that's why I don't want to get a job"

"Because you're spending so much money on takeout?" Mildred asked sarcastically, but when Ethel spoke next her voice was absolutely serious;

"I charge the same as you pay for your dorm bed, my room has a private bathroom so you'll have the common bathroom practically all to yourself, we split the bills, we each clean up after ourselves and I'll pay for the food if you'll cook. How is that?"

Mildred stared at her, fork full of pancakes still hanging in the air, putting together everything she spent over a month.

One of the first things Millie did when she moved to Oxford was get a job. Even having met her dad two years before and him offering to help her mother pay for her, even giving her an old, beat up motorcycle, that belonged to an uncle, for transportation, since brooms were not exactly ideal for a big city setting. She still felt she should, since neither of her parents were rich and she liked being able to send money back if she didn't need it.

She looked around the apartment for a second; It was big, very big, most of the people living on that floor where witches and wizards from what she heard and it was much calmer than her dorm and more comfortable than the library it seemed.

Still, this was Ethel Hallow she was talking about; someone she never liked and that never liked her. In fact, all of their conversations that didn't end in a screaming match could be counted on one hand, if you included this one, and Mildred couldn't help, but ask herself why Ethel would even offer that to her? Was it because they were the only two Cackles students from the same year in Weirdsister… Was Ethel missing-

"I made you a proposal, Mildred!" Ethel cut off her thoughts sharply, looking annoyed; "Are you going to say something or are you going to stare at me with that stupid expression?"

"Yes!" Mildred responded suddenly and then groaned and closed her eyes. "I mean… Yes, I would like to be your roommate."

"Oh finally!" Ethel stood up. "Come on, I'll show you your room."

(tbc)


	2. Enemies to Roommates

**Day 1 - Move Along**

The move was quick. Mildred really wanted to get out of her dorm, it seemed, and nothing is ever as fast and easy as sending her things over by magic. Even if she did send them in small quantities and was very careful in taking inventory and making sure she wasn't sending anything of her ex-roommate's over.

On her end, Ethel just supervised, cup of coffee in hand as each item showed up in the room, exchanging looks with Nightstar everytime one materialized a little too far from the floor or popping from the middle of all the other things, both in silent agreement that Mildred was still the same witch she'd always been…

The last thing to be transported fell from the highest spot yet, a yellow teddy bear that hit the floor and started to play a mildly familiar tune that was immediately followed by a piece of paper with the words "Ethel, read this!" on one side, but Ethel just groaned, taking her time to finish her coffee and put the cup in the kitchen before coming back to read it;

 _Ethel, Accidentally sent my mirror over before me, I'll be there in 15 minutes or so with my motorcycle. See you later!_

Ethel raised an eyebrow and looked at her familiar; "What motorcycle?"

The item in question materialized right in front of her, Nightstar ran away startled, as the motorcycle was loudly spilling smoke everywhere, quickly filling up the room since the rider didn't realize she was no longer in the street, causing Ethel to jump back and start coughing while screaming back;

"STOP! YOU'RE IN THE APARTMENT, TOADBRAIN!"

Millie noticed it, eventually, and turned off the motorcycle, getting off of it and running to open the window.

"Ethel, I am so sorry!" She said, running back and casting a wind spell to make the smoke get out faster, before checking on the girls doubled over still coughing a little "There! Deep breaths. You better?"

"I am already regretting this decision…" Ethel coughed, while trying to take deep breaths. "Why the hell did you bring your motorcycle IN HERE? Why do you even HAVE one of those things? You're a witch!"

Mildred walked her away from the smoke and sat her down on the sofa; "I have one because… Well, it's a long story, but it's better to get around in the city on one of those, helps me get delivery jobs and Tabby has less of a problem riding on it than on a broom." She fanned Ethel, hoping that would help her breath better. "Sorry, I accidentally transported my motorcycle into the apartment. I was getting ready to ride it here."

"You transported by accident? Typical!" Ethel side eyed her angrily, finally recovering and starting to feel a little better and looking around; "Where even is your familiar?"

"Oh..." Millie smiled and opened the zipper of her motorcycle jacket, the tabby cat's head poking out, clad in a tiny motorcycle helmet and goggles; "Here he is! Or did you think I had gained a much bigger belly in the last hour or so." She said jokingly, taking off the goggles and helmet carefully and then letting Tabby out. "Our new home, Tabby! Go make friends with Nightstar."

Understanding what his witch wished, Tabby walked towards Nightstar and tried to rub against her in a greeting, but was met with cold indifference as the other cat just walked away, looking slightly cross.

"Yeah, that will work." The blonde said sarcastically and stood up. "Got get that thing out of my apartment, Mildred!"

Millie raised her hands in front of her: "Alright, alright, I'll do it! Sorry..."

"And take off that stupid helmet!"

 **Day 2 - Check Its Pipes, Mildred!**

"This is all your fault, Mildred Hubble!" They both said in unison, Millie was just used to it and obviously had a deadpanned tone, but Ethel actually meant it, to a degree, she narrowed her eyes at the other girl.

Mildred noticed that and rolled her eyes; "See? I can remember your old catchphrase too." before getting to her knees and starting to examine the pipes under the sink by herself.

"What are you doing?" Ethel asked, wrinkling her nose.

"I am checking the pipes?" Mildred responded, sounding as if Ethel had asked if water was wet. "I think I can fix this…" She stood up, rubbing her hands on her trousers to clean them from the dust under the sink and then then tied up her long hair.

"Oh yes, that sounds like a great idea if we want to drown. Are you a plumber now?" Ethel crossed her arms and leaned against the balcony besides the sink.

"As a matter of fact, I am!" Millie raised her chin and grinned. "Dad taught me a thing or two when I would help him over the summer. Got me some extra money too." She walked to her room and started looking for something.

"I thought you didn't know your father…"

"I didn't for a long time, but I got to meet him and his family a few years ago." Mildred walked back to the kitchen with a toolbox and got back under the sink.

Ethel wanted to ask about the family thing, but remembered the prank she had pulled on Millie by putting Mr Rowan-Webb in her family tree and decided to focus on something else: "You have a toolbox?"

"Dad thought it would be useful, so he gave me one as a present." Millie opened it and picked one of the tools from the inside.

"So… That's what is like, being the daughter of a plumber?" Ethel asked, sarcastically. "I thought getting jewelry from my parents was nice, but a toolbox? Amazing."

That was when Ethel was hit in the face by a spray of water coming from the drain of the sink.

"Ooops, that doesn't go there." Mildred said from under the sink with a mocking voice. "Are you alright, Ethel?"

Ethel ground her teeth and narrowed her eyes, casting a spell that made water manifest inside the pipe and burst into Mildred's face, however, as spell cast in anger often do, things got a little out of hand and the water pressure was so much it knocked Millie back and away from the sink, hitting her back against the cabinets on the other side of the 2 and half meter wide kitchen.

"Oh my, are you alright Mildred?" Ethel said mockingly, but her raised eyebrow settled down when she realized two things; one that Mildred actually looked in a lot of pain and two, that the water wouldn't stop pouring out. She frowned and cast a spell to cancel her previous one and walked towards Millie, kneeling besides her and managed to force out a quiet murmur of; "Alright, maybe I went too far there."

"Yeah…"Millie managed to get out, contorting her back, trying to reach the sore spot with her hand. "Maybe."

The blonde sighed "Take off your shirt, let me take a look." Mildred side eyed her through the pain; "Look, Esmie taught me some basic healing spells, I can help."

Mentioning Esmeralda seemed to have have help, since Millie took off her shirt and turned her back to Ethel, giving her full access.

The other witch rubbed her hand and looked up at the other's back, being surprised by the sight of a tattoo, and muscles especially around her shoulders, but she shook her head and started to examine it, finding the sore spot that had been hit by a handle of the cabinet and put her hand against it, evocating a healing spell, a soft pink glow coming from her hand.

Mildred felt the sore spot on her back get warm and stop hurting, as she slowly held her back straight again, letting out a long sigh of relief as she moved her back around and looked over her shoulder at Ethel… Who was blushing slightly for some reason.

"Thanks, Ethel." She managed a smile at her, before turning around to stand up and offering help for the blonde to do the same.

"You're welcome." She responded, looking at the floor. "We need to dry this up… And ourselves."

Standing side by side, they cast the spells.

 **Day 3 - The Adventures of Nightstar and Tabby**

Nightstar stalked her prey in the streets as the sun came down, quietly approaching a big and juicy street rat, which would become her dinner. She focussed her eyes and lowered her body, claws at the ready as she pounced, surprised when a well-known, distressed meow came from the nearby alleyway, scaring off the rat just in time for it to escape her.

Frustrated, she raised her paw, seeing her prey had indeed escaped, and looked at the source of the sound, not even a little bit surprised when she found Tabby. The shame of the familiar world, of course, proving that he deserved that title for being scared by a mouse. Not even a big delicious rat as the one she was about to eat, but a ridiculously tiny mouse.

She huffed indignantly to herself.

Still, there where rules to her job; Much like the witches that served them had the Witches' Code, familiars such as herself had the Familiar's Code and it demanded that they protected their witches first, and their fellow familiars second, and in this case, her witch and his witch were in the same coven and now in the same house. She would have loved to just walk away and let the little coward have it, but she knew she shouldn't do that.

Squaring her shoulders once again, she pounced and in one jump got the mouse easily in her mouth, shaking her head to break its neck, giving a quick end to the creature.

Tabby and her exchanged looks, he was thankful and she was… unimpressed, even when he jumped down and tried to rub against her again to show his appreciation, she rejected him once more.

Nightstar just walked away, head held high, mouse still in her mouth, ignoring the sad looking Tabby even as he meowed loudly to warn her of the-

A rope pulled tight around her neck! She dropped the mouse that immediately stopped pretending to be dead and ran away as the animal control officer took her, shocking her since she had her collar on, she obviously had a human!

Wait, where was her collar?

She looked back into the alley and saw it had come out, probably as she was killing, (well, "killing") the mouse.

She also saw that coward Tabby run away and jumped up to a higher place, because of course he wouldn't obey the code himself!

Nightstar hissed and struggled against the rope, trying to free herself as the man tried to bring her into his van as she resisted with everything she had, when suddenly, from on high, Tabby jumped down onto the man's head and started scratching him, until he let go of the cat-catching rope.

Tabby jumped down and helped Nightstar free herself and both ran into the alley, Tabby grabbing her collar on the way, going up to the roof of the building and managing to escape back to their own.

~0~

Mildred got home about half an hour after the sunset, but still earlier than Ethel, as usual. She opened the front door of the apartment, humming a song or another to herself, turned on the lights and unloaded some things she had bought onto the kitchen counter, before leaving her bag on the sofa and turning back to the counter.

"Hey, Nightstar, how are you?" She said smiling at the cat, when she noticed something at her feet. "What is- Is this your collar?" She picked it up. "You can't go around without this, kitten. Ethel will have a heart attack if you end up in the pound or something." Mildred explained, putting the collar on the cat's neck, that stretched it out to make it easier on, looking both regal and happy, as Millie was making sure it was firm and tight enough to be both secure and comfortable; "Remember how we almost were lost in the past because we needed to get you back? She really loves you, you know?" She tugged on the collar to make sure it was secure and then scratched behind her ear. "There you go. I imagine you've already eaten, so I'll get Tabby's food down now."

Tabby jumped on top of the counter as well and rubbed against Nightstar who, to Mildred's surprise, was receptive to it and rubbed back against him.

The witch smiled and put Tabby's food on the floor, near the washing machine and both cats came down to eat, sharing the food as well.

She crossed her arms and smiled them; "Well… I am glad to see you two are finally getting along."

 **Day 4 - A Motorcycle To The Magic Market**

"You're not sitting like that on a motorcycle." Mildred said, looking over her shoulder at Ethel who was sitting sitting side-saddle, with her legs crossed at the ankles.

"This is how I sit on a broom, I don't see why I wouldn't sit like this here." Ethel responded with her nose up.

"Because you will throw the balance off if you don't put your legs on both sides. You need to straddle your seat and grip the motorcycle with your legs if you don't want to fall." Millie explained. "Preferably hold on to me as well."

"I won't fall! Maybe you would, but if you remember I am not you."

"Yeah, but I am the one driving."

That finally made Ethel straddle the seat with a huff, putting on a helmet without discussion this time.

Five minutes later she was gripping Millie's waist like there was no tomorrow, secretly thankful she had listened.

~0~

"Why do we need two different types of pasta?" Ethel asked as soon as Mildred came to the cart with two big bottles of apple and orange juice. "It's all pasta, they taste the same."

"Texture is an important part of taste. Plus, different sauces cling to different types of pasta- Well, differently!"

"When did you become so eloquent, Hubble?"

Mildred rolled her eyes and huffed; "I'll go get the pasta, you stay here and be snarky if you want."

"Good, that's my specialty." Ethel responded humorlessly, still looking at the list; "Be back soon, I need to swing by the potions section." Millie stopped and looked back at her with a raised eyebrow; "What?"

"It's a normal supermarket Ethel." She said walking back so they could keep their talk to themselves "There is no such thing as that." She frowned; "Is there?"

"Wait, you didn't know?" Ethel chuckled under her breath, looking at Mildred with an expression that clearly was calling her an idiot; "Why do you think I wanted us to come here?"

Millie was so embarrassed even the tops of her ears were red. "According to YOU it was because they let us buy whatever we want and then deliver it to our apartment. You didn't mention anything about it being a magical supermarket..." She crossed her arms defensively, looking around a little grumply. "Doesn't even look like it."

'She looks so ridiculously adorable.' Ethel thought to herself with… irony? Maybe? Before saying: "We are in the common part of it." She pointed at a wall in the back; "Through there is the place. The wall is a magical hologram, only our kind can walk through."

Millie looked at it; "I see..." She started pushing the cart towards the pasta section before turning way towards the wall, an increasingly excited smile growing on her face as she gained speed and jumped on the card as it slide into the section.

Ethel rolled her eyes and walked calmly right after her; "You look like you've never even been to a magical market!"

"Actually, I've been to one once for your information!" Millie said, looking around. "Sybil took me to one when I was helping her with her 3rd year project."

"Typical of Sybil…" Ethel said dismissively. "She never could do things on her own."

Mildred frowned and side-eyed her with a grin; "No wonder she didn't ask for your help."

Ethel raised her head; "I never had anyone's help."

"Sure, Ethel." Both sarcasm and the desire to leave it at that were clear in Mildred's voice, specially since she quickly added; "Two questions though: What do you need anyway? And, do they have an ink and pen section here?"

Still cross, Ethel pulled out her potions ingredients list.

 **Day 5 - Common Living**

There is much introspection to be had under a hot shower, to the point it is inescapable. There was just something about the water hitting your head and shoulders, rushing down your hair and relaxing all of your muscles after a long day of work; be it mental or physical. It just makes your thoughts turn to yourself and your life, in just the right way.

There wasn't much time left for introspection in Ethel Hallow's life. Between working on her degree, majoring in Witches' Code Law and minoring in potions, in case the family business ever called for the second instead of the first, she couldn't turn that look upon herself. There was very little time for recreation even, which was something she never had much of before college either.

Looking inward and thinking about her life was hard for her, but now there was something about Mildred's words that kind of got to her and she found herself, for the first time, as far as she would admit to herself, bothered by the fact that Sybil hadn't come to her for help, not unless it was her very last resort, for a very long time… And even then, usually Ethel wouldn't help her anyway.

She turned off the shower and reached for her towel, leaving those thoughts behind once more.

In the living room, Millie was sitting on the floor, hair pulled up in a messy bun, held in place by a paint brush, a canvas in front of her and some watercolour paints. Working on a painting that should help her harness her powers, turn her drawings into reality, in a more subtle way than making them jump from the paper.

This one was an attempt at changing the weather outside, make the night that was predicted to be covered in clouds instead be clear around the moon, to reflect it's silvery rays. The idea being that she would make the painting now and apply its effect later, since right now she enjoyed the natural light her room lacked.

Mildred was concentrated and focused, and didn't notice when Ethel came in.

"Painting in the living room?" She asked, walking behind Millie.

"My room doesn't have enough natural light at this time of day" The witch explained. "I hope it doesn't bother you."

"It's fine." She laid in the sofa behind her, looking at her painting over her shoulder with mild interest. "That's the same style as your tattoo." Ethel said after examining the picture.

Millie looked over her shoulder to her for a second before turning her attention back to the painting; "Yeah, I drew them both."

"Why? When did you even get a tattoo?"

"You didn't like it?" Millie asked, adding a purple tinge to the clouds.

"I didn't see it well enough to tell." She lied. "Looked like a watercolour as well."

"Yes. Well, answering your questions; I got a tattoo and drew it myself because when Enid, Maud and I realized we would be going to different colleges and in the case of me and the two of them; different cities, we wanted something to remember each other by, so we found an enchantment that allowed us to create a tattoo that symbolizes the important moments of our friendship." Millie put her palette aside and pulled her shirt over her head, showing her back to Ethel. "See, there is Maud crashing in my balcony, Enid turning her cat into a monkey, Cackles in the background and other things."

"Magical tattoos like that add in with time." She said, running her fingers over it, not noticing the other woman's hair stood on end. "So it adds when new things happen in your life… What is this Mexican restaurant doing there?"

Millie lowered her shirt and turned to the sofa, getting away from her painting to lean in closer to Ethel; "That's a bit of a long story." She smiled. "We all put ours in different places. Maud's is around her thigh and Enid's is in her lower back… She calls it the 'tramp stamp of friendship'."

Ethel snorted and laughed loudly and openly at that, kind of hating herself for it, but honestly couldn't stop! There was just something about Enid Nightshade, trouble maker and self proclaimed coolest girl in Cackles' Academy, lifting the back of her shirt to show off her tattoo while happily announcing "IT'S THE TRAMP STAMP OF FRIENDSHIP!"

Mildred couldn't help but laugh as well, remembering the incident, that did in fact, play out exactly as Ethel was imagining, she didn't laugh as loud, or was as distracted by it, so she felt her eyes immediately drawn to Ethel's face as she realized that was literally the first time she ever saw Ethel Hallow laugh like that and as soon as the blonde looked her in the eyes, she felt a ridiculously great urge to kiss her.

That wasn't an acceptable urge to have with that kind of intensity that suddenly, especially because it was something she wouldn't do! In fact, the very idea she would had never even occurred to her, she wouldn't, it was just… That, suddenly there, _towards Ethel_! Yeah, she thought she was attractive, but so was Pippa Pentangle, even more so, there are just some people that- All of this came flooding fast over her, it made her stop laughing and her eyes go wide. Her thoughts scrambled up and mixed in her head.

Ethel noticed, and asked, still laughing: "Is something wrong?"

Millie looked at her, slack jawed for a second before pulling back and standing up: "Dinner… I have to cook it, now!" She walked to kitchen; "Something special you would like?"

"No..." Ethel said, laughter subsiding, despite the smile still planted on her face. "I'll actually meet some people from my course tonight. We're going to go out drinking, so don't wait up."

"Oh great!" Mildred put her hands behind her, starting to calm down; "I'll just cook us something fast so you can eat before you go and I'll finish my painting!" She took a deep breath; "If I can find my wide brush, that is."

Ethel reached behind Millie's head and pulled the brush from her hair, letting it fall over her back; "Is this one it?"

"Yes! Thanks Ethel!" Millie said with a smile, taking the brush from her.

"Honestly, you would lose your head if it wasn't attached..." The blonde rolled her eyes as she walked back into her room to get dressed.

'I might be losing it already anyway.' Millie thought to herself as she got the pans from the cupboard, deciding she really should call Maud and Enid.

(tbc)


	3. How to Complicate A Story

**Chapter 3 - How To Complicate A Story**

" _I always knew my 'tramp stamp of friendship' line was comedy gold!" Enid said, rather proud of herself._

 _Maud rolled her eyes and ignored Enid; "You wanted to kiss her? Just there, suddenly, kiss?" she asked, trying to understand the full implication of what Mildred was saying._

" _Yes..." Millie said, rubbing her forehead._

" _So? What is that all?" Enid shrugged._

" _Ugh, Enid!" Maud rolled her eyes from the other side of the mirror and side eyed Enid._

" _No, seriously!" Enid asked. "Millie… She is hot, awful, but hot and you're very gay! It happens! Hell, I went out shopping with Maud and she bought this gorgeous blue dress, really, she looked amazing in it, you should see her and I did think 'Wow, I'd hit that' to myself and she is like my best friend, off of limits! See? It happens! Plus you didn't actually do anything about it."_

" _Nor would she!" Maud suddenly added. "Wait, what was that part before?" She shook her head "Forget it; Look, Millie, you just had a moment."_

" _Yeah, see, Maud and I are even agreeing! You probably just wanted a piece of that amazing hate sex."_

 _Maud rubbed her face with both hands; "Sweet Morgana, Enid..."_

" _W-what?" Mildred said, looking at Enid, mouth hanging slightly open._

" _Oh yeah! Why do you think my relationship with Joey lasted so long? By the end we just hated each other and fought all the time, but the sex was amazing, especially towards the end when we really started hating each other!"_

" _You still broke up with him." Millie point out, still looking shocked._

" _Of course! We hated each other as I said, but that last stretch of the relationship was kinda fun, not to mention exciting." Enid relaxed back; "There is no long, happy relationship based on things like that, you just have some fun and move along, but that's obviously not the case here." She paused and added a bit more seriously; "Look, I am not saying you SHOULD sleep with her, I am just saying it makes sense that you would be attracted to her and that's normal and you shouldn't be letting one stray thought make you too nervous. Sometimes our minds just take over and go crazy." She shrugged._

 _Maud smiled openly at that. Enid was surprisingly introspective and caring when she was taking things more seriously, herself adding; "Yes! Exactly! Don't get stressed about it Millie, it was just an intrusive thought, we all have those."_

" _Does everybody get intrusive urges as well?" Millie asks, distressed._

" _Oh yes! For instance, uuuuh… Being in the middle of your shower and looking at the soap like 'Wow, I can stuff this down my throat and just suffocate to death right now and I won't have worry about anything ever again because I'll be dead!' or being on top of a building and wanting to jump, or want to call HB a bitch to her face at least once! You know, stuff that can kill you, probably!"_

" _That… First one was pretty dark Enid, are you ok?" Maud asked worried._

" _Oh I didn't think of that one… I head from Sybil when she was going through finals last semester." Her eyes went wide "That girl gets dark when finals came around. Woof!"_

" _Aaaalright..." Maud said and then looked back at Mildred; "Did any of that help at all?"_

 _Millie nods slowly, then more firmly: "Yeah, I do feel better… Also feel like checking on Sybil right now, to be honest."_

 _Enid waved her and smiled. "Don't worry, she is fine! Look, just get your mind off Ethel… Just find a girlfriend, you're cute and fun, can't be that hard!"_

" _Or don't, either way don't lose any sleep over it..."_

~0~

'I actually should check on Sybil… Maybe tell Ethel to' she paused 'maybe tell Esmie to do it actually. Yeah, maybe I should. All I have to do is remember exactly what is the name of Esmie's college; Salem Healing Institute? Salem Institute for Magical Healings? Something like that?'

It was 4 AM and Mildred couldn't sleep since she was woken about half an hour before, which unfortunately wasn't as uncommon as she wished; It seemed like insomnia had been getting to her since the beginning of the new semester, weird dreams and nightmares had been waking her up in the middle of the night, but once she was awake, whatever there was in the dream was gone from her mind.

Which meant her brain would go back to the very last thing that was worrying her, which was usually her 'Magic Art' or 'Introduction to Alchemy' studies, but today it was that talk; Maud and Enid were right, she was being too nervous about something that was probably just a passing thought, an unexpected feeling that only got to her like that because it was that unexpected.

'Yeah...' She thought to herself. 'I just wasn't expecting it, but now that I do, I can NOT freak out about it and deal with the whole thing as an adult.' She sighed in relief.

Still, it wasn't like she was going to sleep again now, so she sat up on her bed, stretched a little, moving to her table and turning on her light, going for her book, "Alchemical Symbols And How To Use Them" and starting to read the chapter on how to create a 'Circle of Creation', allowing you to create permanent things through transformation.

She was well into the chapter about modern symbols for things like aluminium and silicon when she heard the living room door open and froze, looking over her shoulder to the door, paying attention to what was outside.

There where whispers, a higher and deeper voice, she could tell the higher one was Ethel's, both seemed to be stumbling around and giggling or laughing to one another and they started making out against her door, it was pretty clear what was going on. She turned back to her book and blushing pulled her headphones, putting on some music to herself, feeling suddenly very angry despite the fact that what was going on was well within what had been determined.

'I need a girlfriend...' She thought just before going back to concentrating on her book.

~0~

"Hey, you're Mildred right?"

It was 8 AM and Millie was in the middle of her morning run when a beautiful black haired girl she vaguely remembered from Weirdsisters, though not from any of her classes, started running besides her.

"Yes, that's me." She gave her a friendly smile. "Have we met?"

"Not formally, I think!" The other witch responded, smiling with pearly white teeth; "I am Geraldine Fern, but you can call me Gerry, nice to meet you! I am in the 'Magical Anomalies' course."

"Oh! I heard of that one." Millie says breathlessly; "Sounded a bit scary honestly. Studying Magical Black Spots, the lives of witches that disobeyed the code, and where they reunited and places where magic manifests in horrible ways…" She looked at the girl and smiled, "No offence."

Geraldine laughed; "None taken! It's all true! It's in part why I find it so fascinating!" She drank some water from a bottle as a pause; "You study what?"

"Magic Art… And Alchemy, but Magic Art is my focus." She responded.

"Oh, is it you that have that rare talent? Making your drawings into reality and all of that?"

Millie blushed and nodded; "Yeah! I found out in my last year in Cackles. I am concentrating on bettering my art, so the effect will be better."

"That's amazing! So you went to Cackles? I went to Pentangles! How was it there?" She inquired, enthusiastic, and Mildred was not one to refuse an opportunity to talk about Cackles.

~0~

Back home about an hour later Mildred felt much better, despite the lack of sleep and the thing that happened the night before…

And the afternoon before. Well, suffice to say, talking to Gerry had helped her a lot. She was an interesting character, intelligent, funny, pretty in a very goth-y kinda way.

The door to Ethel's room opened and from the inside came out a guy; tall, handsome and strong, if Mildred wasn't gay she would have seen why someone would hit on him. That didn't stop her from feeling a slight pain of- Jealousy? Envy?... God she hoped not, and frowned deeply. That was when he saw her in the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks, blushing deeply, and so did she.

"Uh… Well met?" She said, to the fortunately fully dressed Wizard… Well, she hoped he was a wizard, or else the greeting would need some explanation.

"Well met!" He responded, gesturing back at her. "Uh, sorry for the intrusion I-"

"Hey, it's alright, it's her apartment, I am just the roommate." Mildred said with a smile; "I am Mildred, Mildred Hubble."

Hearing that, his face light up and he smiled at her; "Mildred? Hi! D-do you remember me? It's Zac! Zac Hawthorne! We met during that witching competition in the first year!" He stopped and rubbed behind his head, a little embarrassed; "Not that we kept contact or anything."

"Zac?" Mildred's smile widen a little. She remembered Zac, he not only seemed to be nice, but Ethel obviously had a tiny little crush on him and a part of her found it nice she was over her shyness around boys (another part of her hated that however): "Hey, how are you! It's been so long! Oh, don't be like that; Do you want some breakfast?"

"... Actually, that sounds like a great idea while I wait for, Ethel to wake up." He said, sitting on the chair in the table.

Mildred chuckled; "Don't hold your breath on that, Ethel doesn't wake up before eleven or so on Saturdays if she can help it."

"Oh…"Zac said, looking distressed.

"What is it?"

"It would be ungentlemanly to leave before talking to her," He responded, looking embarrassed with himself; "but I am the TA and I promised to meet with him at 10 today,"

Millie waved his concerns away; "Don't worry about that, she won't mind at all… In fact, she might prefer it." And here Mildred whispered in a mild conspiratory manner; "She is not in her best mood when she wakes up and she doesn't like people to see it."

Zac laughed and asked jokingly; "Who does?"

There was knock at the sliding to the balcony and before Mildred could do anything about, Nightstar and Tabby opened it to let inside a beautiful falcon that bowed its head to the two of them before flying in and landing elegantly besides Zac. The ex-Pengangle student sighed;

"So you found me, Livia." He looked at Millie; "Mildred, this is Livia, my familiar."

"Nice to meet you." Mildred said with a smile and caressed her neck, looking up at Zac. "I didn't know Pentangles has falcons as familiars."

"They don't. There are just some exceptions for family traditions; Mine has always had a falcon as a familiar, usually given to us before we start school. It wasn't that uncommon in Pentangles, some schools will only allow it with the council sending them a special letter or something like that." He gently caresses Livia under her beak and she pecked at his hand gently, to show she was hungry. He looked up and joked; "I don't suppose you have any insects around to feed her do you?"

Millie laughed; "Actually, yeah! I believe we have a few dried insects we use for potions." She walked to get it. "You're the second Pentangles student I've seen today."

"Yeah, there are quite a few of us at Weirdsister this year. Who did you see?"

"I don't know if you know her, Geraldine Fern? Gerry?" Millied picked up a slice of toast that had jumped out of the toaster, starting to spread some jelly on it.

"Oh yeah, I knew her, just not very well. We were in the same year. She used to hang out with a girl that came from Cackles actually, got transferred in the second year, I think her name started with a D-"

"Drusilla Paddock? She used to be friends with Ethel!" She started to put jelly on another toast.

He laughed; "Small world… But I don't remember them much; My parents moved to Norway my last two years because of work. I finished my education there, in a school called Mimirswell, it was pretty-" he lifted his watch to take a look at the time and jumped. "Oh damn it, I better go! I still have to shower and I don't want to be late!"

Mildred shoved the jelly covered toast on his mouth; "There, something to remember me by." she said, making him chuckle before he snapped his fingers and left.

~0~

In a flash the first two months went by, and with each day the number of friendly conversations between Mildred and Ethel only seemed to increase, arguably an absolute necessity for good living between two people, but also something that seemed to get less superficial and more honest when it came to the two of them, without falling into forced civility.

It wasn't too long for them to start talking about themselves in more specific terms and even then it was still peppered by the fact they maintained their teasing edge, even if it was now dulled by some actual fondness.

They started to care and remember what the other liked;

"Here, I brought you this on the way home." Millie said, walking into her room after knocking. It was a chocolate croissant from the bakery she was working in at the moment. "They were just coming out and I know you love them, so."

"Thanks, Mildred." Ethel responded, still concentrated on her her book as she reached inside the paper bag and got the croissant out. "I was starting to get hungry, but I really need to finish this case study."

"Ethel, it's been two months; You can call me Millie." She smiled.

Ethel smiled back at her; "Alright, but you can only call me Ethie when you bring me one these." She teased, taking a bite of the croissant.

Mildred said with sarcastic enthusiasm; "Okay Ethie!"

"Thanks, Millie!" Ethel responded in turn.

"You're welcome! And you did get me those supplies I needed and you didn't have to." Millie left the room for a minute, taking off her coat before coming back.

"It was nothing." Ethel shrugged and took another bite, and then remembered: "Enid and Maud called you on the mirror earlier." She said, after swallowing; "I told them you would be back around four, so they'll be calling soon probably."

"Oh, great!" Mildred walked back into the room; "You're still ok with them spending the weekend over, right?"

Ethel looked at her; "Why do you keep asking me that? I already said it's okay! Besides, I just found out I'll spend most of the day with Esmie and Sybil anyway."

"Alright, I am sorry." Millie said, sitting on her bed and looking at her; "Esmie and Sybil are coming over too?"

"No, I am going to them, our Nan called the three of us over for a visit." Ethel explained between bites.

"Just you three? Not your parents?" Mildred leaned on her elbows.

"She does that sometimes." Ethel shrugged and smiled. "I am just always happy to see my nan, so I'll go whenever she calls me if I can."

Millie smiled at her: "What?"

The smile turned into a laugh; "You look so cute and happy talking about your nan."

Ethel narrowed her eyes at her; "Who isn't? Nans are the best… And I am not cute."

"Not most of the time, but right now, you look pretty cute." Mildred shrugged and smacked her lips.

Ethel looked at her, trying to be offended, but couldn't help but laugh a little. She finally got serious again before speaking; "Oh, shut up, Hubble."

"Powerful comeback, Hallow." Mildred sat up again, getting off the bed. "I'll be in my room if you need me."

Ethel waved in confirmation, finished her croissant and went back to her case study, when a few minutes later, she heard someone call Mildred in the mirror.

The voice however was not Enid or Maud as she would expect, it was instead that damn girl again.

From the moment she met her, Ethel found in herself a great dislike for Geraldine Fern that only seemed to grow the more she got to know the woman; She was cocky, arrogant, overconfident all the while believing herself to be roguish and charming, throwing some cliche lines Mildred's way, making Ethel roll her eyes and go grab a drink so she could endure the enormous amount of bat guano that seemed to spout from the woman's mouth.

Ethel had been drinking a lot lately.

What Mildred saw in that girl that made her want to hang out with her was beyond Ethel, but Millie had been a sport about Ethel's little casual encounters, so tolerating her friendships was something she felt had to do. Plus, it was not like Mildred and her where dating or anything.

'I hope not…' She thought and that did it, suddenly she was very interested in their talk.

The Hallow tried to concentrate on her paper harder, but she couldn't help it, her ears wanted to pay attention to their words and before she could help herself, she quietly stood up and put a glass against her own door.

First it was Mildred's voice;

"-and since she loves those, I bought her one."

"You're nicer than she deserves after everything I heard about your experience in Cackles with her."

Ethel narrowed her eyes at that voice, obviously Geraldine's, (Ethel still refused to call her 'Gerry' as she insisted, as if she was trying to pretend they were friends or something).

"Look, that's water under the bridge and you did ask. We're… Almost friends now! Stop being mean to Ethel."

"She would have to stop being mean to you first, babe." Ethel had to suppress a dry heave from hearing the 'Babe'! "Plus, it's not just from you I heard about her. If anything you where nice about it. The way Drusilla described it was much worse; Ambitious, arrogant, vengeful, not to mention petty! Not that Drusilla wasn't much better in the end, but" there was a long pause "I just worry about you, I don't want her to hurt you."

"We're not children anymore alright?" Was Mildred sounding a little… Cross? "I trust Ethel now, she's earned it." That made Ethel smile a little; "Plus, we do have a date tonight, isn't that something better to discuss?"

"You're right, you're right…" Gerry conceded "I can't wait to kiss you all over."

"Gerry, please." Ethel could practically hear Mildred blushing.

"Yeah, you do say that a lot-"

At that point Ethel pulled away and sat on her chair again, finding that where that conversation was going would either make her nauseated or suicidal. She crossed her arms and reached for her silver flask, taking a swig of rum.

Still, that talk had something that didn't click right for Ethel; That didn't sound like Drusilla at all.

Well, alright, she haven't had much contact with the girl in around six, seven years, but they did move in the same circles, the Paddocks where not that far from the Hallows, so they saw each other occasionally over the years and while Drusilla had her bad qualities, being arrogant and petty where not among them.

She wasn't ambitious either, but Ethel didn't think that was bad quality, so not worth mentioning.

Thoughtful, she took another swig and quietly wondered; 'Alright, but why do I even care so much?'

That made her stop mid-third swig, slowly lowering the silvery bottle again and dedicated herself to that thought, thinking exactly what was it about that whole talk that made her angry.

Well, there were many things actually. 'Babe' had stripped away about six months from Ethel's life that she would never get back, there was the image of Geraldine's creepy pale hands all over Mildred which made her sneer in disgust, there was the question of what the hell someone like Mildred saw in that creep.

The very idea of Mildred and Geraldine being together revolted to her very core to a degree she couldn't even describe- And a horrible thought hit Ethel, a truly terrible one. One that was the very opposite of what a witch would think and it terrified her!

~0~

"Esmie, I think I might be homophobic!" Ethel said with a truly distressed expression on her face.

Esmeralda Hallow looked like she was about to pass out and fall asleep, mostly because she kinda was. What exactly had possessed Ethel to call her apartment in Salem at 4 AM was beyond her, but the young Intern Healer in the "Institute for Magical Health Hospital" suspected it had something to do with Ethel getting the time zones wrong… Or just not caring at all.

"What?" Esmeralda asked flatly. If anything was to strip her civility was lack of sleep. She was still a Hallow, after all.

"I can't stand thinking of Mildred and her girlfriend! I just hate it!" Ethel crossed her arms and frowned.

"Why would you have to?" Esmie crooked an eyebrow. "You don't share even a minor, you can't possibly see her that much. Is this why you're calling me at 4 AM."

"She lives with me now actually." Ethel responded. "I had to call now, it's 8, it's when she leaves for morning run on weekends, I can't risk her hearing this."

"What?" Esmie said, once again, pretty flatly.

"It's a long story. I needed more money, she was having some problems with her roommate, we already knew each other, to put it simply; we've been living together a little more than two months and now she has a girlfriend and I am frankly repulsed by the very idea of them being together."

"Hum…"

"And I am afraid that I might just hate it because they are not straight and witches are not like that!"

"Hm."

"That's what non-magical people do! Two witches can be in love with each other, there is nothing wrong with that, I still think it doesn't, granted, it means that if they marry they have to choose just one of the families to carry on with the name and biological children take some magic and expert level special potions, still I shouldn't-" Ethel took a breath; "There is just something about this that I hate!"

"Ethel…"

"I don't even know what Millie sees in her to be honest."

"Millie?"

"She could do so much better!"

"Ethel."

"I hate to admit it, but she is a literal hero several times over, she has even saved me and now she is dating some toadbrained witch who-"

"You're in love with her, you idiot..." Esmeralda said, bluntly cutting her sister off.

She sighed.

Usually Esmeralda was rather careful with what she said. She rather lead her sisters to their own conclusions by showing them the facts, but there is no such thing as being nice after you just got home from a shift at the hospital, so she continued; "Sybil told me she noticed you had a little crush on her by the end of your 5th year, but I do think living with her has made it into full blown romantic attraction."

Ethel looked at her like she had grown a second head; "What?"

Esmie put her cheek on her fist, eyes almost closing; "We all noticed it, Ethel."

"That's ridiculous! I hated Mildred through all of school!"

"You were constantly trying to be friends with her since the third year, you just got frustrated and angry and nastier towards her when she didn't immediately subscribe to it." Esmie yawned. "I never got why until Sybil pointed out that you were probably in denial over having a crush on her..."

"You're useless. Mildred is my… Friend, or at least almost that! I am telling you, I don't like this girl because there is something about her I hate and I can't put my finger in it!"

Esmeralda sighed deeply and huffed in frustration, saying sarcastically; "Well, I guess you must be right then! Maybe you should investigate that girl, bring all of her evil deeds to light! For the good of your dear friend only, of course!"

"Yes!" Ethel said immediately, to her surprise; "Esmie you're right! She must have something to her past! I have to find out and prove to Mildred she isn't good for her!"

"Ethel I was being sarcastic."

"I know, but you still gave me a good idea. Good night Esmie, see you later!" And at that Ethel ended the call.

Esmeralda groaned deeply, standing up from her chair and falling into her bed, vaguely hoping this wouldn't end badly before she fell into a deep sleep.

(tbc)

(feedback most welcomed ;D)


	4. Absolutely Not Jealousy

**Chapter 4 - Absolutely Not Jealousy**

The quickest way to describe Geraldine Fern would be to say "That drawing from the Duran Duran album covers" or at least, that was who Julie said she looked like when Mildred showed her a picture of the two together during a quick visit on a holiday, which made Millie look up what that was.

"I don't quite see the resemblance that much, Mum." Millie admitted, taking a sip of her tea, sitting opposite of her mother at the kitchen table, looking at the picture on her phone.

"She is quite beautiful, love, that's basically what I mean; That kind of beauty." Julie pointed at the picture that her daughter pulled on the phone. She took a sip of her tea and asked carefully; "I assume this means you're over that little moment you had with Ethel."

"Oh yeah!" Mildred smiled. "That was just a moment we-I had. I am still enjoying, you know, being friends." She chuckled; "That was unexpected."

"I won't lie, I was a little surprised… After all the stunts that girl pulled." Julie was trying to be careful with her wording, finding it a little hard to see Ethel being anything but the seemingly spoiled, petty child she had imagined from the girl's actions.

"It's in the past, Mum." Millie waved it off, breathing deeply and smiled; "Things have changed so much since I started college. Suddenly I have a better room, a girlfriend, I am friends with my school nemesis, working at the bakery is pretty great, everybody there is really nice as well, specially Charlie and his uncle."

"You're growing up." Julie said, looking at her with a smile.

"I know! Surprising how it is turning out better than I expected." Mildred gave her a cheeky grin, making her mother laugh, but also giving Julie a wave of nostalgia. Mildred was almost twenty now, but when her mother looked at her, she sometimes still saw her little girl; the same smile, same twinkle in her eyes, same enthusiasm.

"I am not surprised at all." Julie said, finishing her tea.

Millie chuckled "Not even a little?"

Julie paused and pouted, pretending to be thoughtful for a second; "Alright, maybe a little..." and they both giggled.

"I am really looking forward to having Maud and Enid over. The three of us haven't been together in the same place in almost a year." Mildred crossed her arms on top of the table; "Shame Ethel will be visiting her nan while they are here, maybe all four of us can go out, do something together. Well, five actually, I would invite Gerry as well." She smiled.

"I thought you said that Ethel and Gerry don't seem to like each other much." Julie asked, pouring herself more tea.

"They don't, but it doesn't stop me from trying to get them together, especially with more people around, maybe then Gerry will lay off a little." Mildred sighed.

"Lay off?" Julie arched her eyebrows.

"Gerry is pretty harsh on Ethel… Mostly because of how she was towards me in school."

"You told her about that?"

"Not much, but apparently those things spread around. She also used to be friends with a girl that used to hang out with Ethel before she was transferred to Pentangles at the end of the first year. So she knew some things already, like how Ethel turned me into a frog once, and stole my project that other time time."

Julie raised an eyebrow: "Wasn't that in the second year?" She pointed out. Maybe, after several years of academic work with magic, Mildred had forgotten how much she racked her brain to put that project out, but Julie still remembered it vividly.

In fact, Einstein still lived with her, albeith without his ability to talk anymore.

Mildred thought for a moment; "Oh yeah… I must have told her about that." She dismissed it with a shrug. "Still, she is just being protective."

"Alright, that's why Gerry doesn't like Ethel." Julie sighed and added quietly; "Can't say I blame her if those are the reasons, but why doesn't Ethel like Gerry?"

"They have different opinions on things. Last time I tried to have them hold a conversation it ended with the two of them in a half-hour heated argument about the debate to remove the code rule of section 25-B."

"The one relating to regulations about familiars and giving them potions that last more than 24 hours?" Julie said, still somewhat remembering having read the whole code some years ago as well.

"That one." Mildred sighed; "Ethel is absolutely against making it legal, even with the consent of the familiar in question, because it would create a gray area that would make some witches able to give their familiars powers they shouldn't have, give too much power to some witches, and could be traumatic to the familiar themselves,"

"That's sound."

"But Gerry argued that that since familiars are supposed to serve the witches, that shouldn't be a problem and if people like, well Ethel, when she graduates, did their job right they should be competent enough to see through it."

"I see..." Julie said.

"At one point, they started throwing insults at each other, and only stopped when I said I would leave if they didn't!" Mildred huffed.

"And who did YOU agree with?" Julie asked, sipping her tea.

"... Ethel." Mildred admitted it. "She has a point, some familiars would do anything for their witches, even if it could be harmful to them and it's not hard for a less scrupulous witch to use it to her favor. Making it legal, would only make breaking the other rules in the code easier."

Julie nodded in agreement; "You seem quite bothered that they don't like each other."

"A little… I do live with Ethel after all, and it's still her apartment, but I love living there and I don't want to leave for Gerry. Not yet anyway."

"Not that serious yet, huh?"

Mildred shook her head; "No… It's not like we're in love, I am having a lot of fun, but I don't know. I am taking it slow."

"Very smart." Julie saying, being able to see right through her, but not willing to push her daughter. She would leave it as it was, at least, until she could meet this new grown up Ethel that her daughter seemed to actually to like so much.

After all, Mildred had talked about her more than she did her girlfriend that whole time.

~0~

Ethel was putting her plan in motion, by first laying down what she already knew about Geraldine; Pentangles student, friends with Drusilla when she transferred, student in the "Magical Anomalies" course, with a minor in "Ancient Runes". She couldn't find much on the Fern family, they were about as unremarkable in the witch community as the flower itself was among roses, so that was a dead end, but the rest was good enough at least for a start.

From the way Geraldine referred to Drusilla she guessed they didn't part on good terms, but then again, neither did Drusilla and Ethel, so she left that avenue for later. However, the Pentangle connection was something that Ethel knew exactly who to ask for information.

In fact, it was probably the best person to ask info about pretty much anything else too.

She picked up her maglet and drafted a short message addressed to the Resident Junior Reporter of Witch Daily; Felicia Foxgrove, and sent it.

While all of this was going on, make no mistake, Esmeralda's words had an effect. Even as Ethel kept trying to dismiss them out of hand and not to think about them, they still repeated themselves so much in her head she ended up making several excuses for herself. The two best ones being; defending both her own pride, since Geraldine seemed to ADORE pointing out things that happened long ago that neither she nor Mildred seemed to care about anymore, and just looking after Mildred…

She tried to come up with a third one, but that fell flat. Still, the other two were very good reasons!

The idea she was in love was CLEARLY preposterous, but she did like the girl, she was her friend. The first one that Ethel had had in a long time, who wasn't also related to her. That was something that she did treasure and she admitted so, at least to herself.

She heard the sound of someone transfering into the living room and raised an eyebrow, asking curiously;

"Millie? Back already?" Ethel stood up, leaving her room to see Geraldine, standing in the middle of the living room, smiling at her.

"Calling her Millie now? My, how intimate and sweet." She teased which would have sounded good natured to most people too, but Ethel really didn't see it, mostly because they literally didn't have that relationship.

"Yeah, Mildred is not here. She'll be back around seven, so… Bye, Geraldine."

"You're the only person who calls me that, blondie." She took a deep breath. "I didn't come here to see her, I am here to see you, actually."

"Oh, are you?" Ethel asked, leaning against the wall to the corridor between the two rooms, crossing her arms and legs, looking uncompromising… Or trying to. "What for?"

Geraldine sighed; "Look, I don't like you and you don't like me…" She shrugged. "Maaaybe, with good reason from both sides?"

"Really?" Ethel asked, raised eyebrow, keeping her cool.

"Well, I don't like that you get to be friends with Millie after all you've done," Fern looked at her with pity before adding "and you are clearly interested in her."

Ethel didn't even flinch at that, secretly thanking Esmeralda for having made that same accusation before; that had inoculated her to that kind of comment and she was able to keep stone faced, rolling her eyes; "Oh, give me a break."

"You're determined to hate me." Geraldine said, with honesty in her voice and eyes.

"And so are you towards me." Ethel pointed out, frowning.

"Yes, but you'll tell me I have no reason?" Fern waved. "She is obviously still hurt by the things you did to her, even if she did forgive you and getting her to open up about it was hard, and I care about her."

Ethel shifted uncomfortably. She honestly thought they both had left that in the past, that it was childish and stupid of her, of course, but she was also under the impression Mildred wasn't bugged by it anymore.

Apparently she was.

Yet, Ethel was able to keep stone faced despite her body; "Get to the point."

"The point is that she still sees you as her friend now, despite everything, and you live together so… Why don't we be witches about it and declare a truce? For Millie? We stop being mean to each other or about each other to her. Also you start calling me Gerry like everybody else." She grinned; "I'll even stop calling you blondie."

"I don't see why that would make a difference."

Geraldine groaned and crossed her arms; "It will make a difference for Millie! Do it for her, if you really care about her as your friend."

Ethel hesitated at that. She was right, Millie was the important one here. Not herself, not Gerry, but Millie.

Finally Ethel extended her hand and Geraldine shook it, making the black haired woman smile widely. "There you go, it wasn't that hard! Now help me with this!" And out of nowhere she transferred in a box of things. "I got it for Millie! It's a videogame she had when she was a kid. I think she'll be happy to have it here since you guys never seem to use the TV anyway." She said walking towards the TV and putting the box down.

"Actually, I have some assignments that need my attention now and I know nothing of electronics," Ethel said, "but good luck." She then walked into her room, closing her door behind her, needing to be alone for a little while…

~0~

"MILLIE!" Maud and Enid screamed at the same time before jumping on and hugging their friend, accidentally making her lose her balance and fall to the floor. All three laughing and trying to stand up, only to laugh harder and fall all over again, all the while Ethel observed them, drinking her morning coffee, trying not to let out how much she was judging them for acting like children.

And frankly, kind of envying them, just a tiny bit.

"Hello." She said, between sips.

"Hey, Ethel…" Maud said, slightly embarrassed, managing to get herself up and helping her friends do so as well.

"Enid, Maud. It's been a long time. Are you two doing well?" Ethel asked in a civil tone, with a smile.

That was a new, wild, and unexpected experience for the other two.

"We're fine! I hope Mildred didn't have to pay you much to smile at us." Enid joked with a crooked eyebrow and grin.

Ethel rolled her eyes and responded deadpanned: "My rates are more than fair." She looked at her watch. "I must go now. Esmie and Sybil are probably already waiting for me." She picked up her purse. "Goodbye and don't break anything too expensive." It was a joke, but it had an edge to it.

Millie chuckled; "Bye Ethel!" she said with a smile, and with that the blonde disappeared with a snap of her fingers.

"Well, she is… Different." Maud said with a smile.

"Better than I expected!" Enid admitted; "Not that I expected much." She further admitted.

"I told you!" Millie said standing up. "We're grown ups now, we don't look back on that stuff."

"Saying 'we're grown ups', doesn't help your case, specially when every single one of us knows we're winging it, but yeah, I guess. Ethel might actually have the ability to keep it cool, after all!" Enid grinned; "What a shock!"

"By the way!" Maud said and then grinned; "You'll have to tell us about ALL of this!"

"Yeah, have you wanted to kiss her again?" Enid asked, holding both of her hands under her chin.

Mildred blushed deeply; "I have a girlfriend now!"

"That doesn't answer my question, Millie." Enid pointed out.

"Oh, shut up you! Let her be!" Maud said, pulling Millie to the sofa; "Tell us all about Gerry! How did you two meet? How are things coming along?"

Enid popped in with a grin and raising eyebrows; "Have you two banged yet?"

Millie covered her face with both hands, blushing to the top of her ears.

"Enid!" Maud facepalmed.

"I am not answering that." Millie said from between her hands; "We've just been together officially for a month or so."

"I had to ask!" Enid came to sit on her other side; "Are we at least gonna meet her?"

"She is coming over later." Millie took her hands away, her face almost in the right color again; "I hope you guys like her. She is pretty amazing."

~0~

"I heard you're living with Mildred now." Sybil said in a rather uncompromising way.

The Hallow sisters and their grandmother were sitting in a quiet little cafe in a cozy little corner of Paris, a place they were visiting at their grandmother's request.

Ethel narrowed her eyes and whispered quietly as Esmie and their grandma talked animatedly on the other side of the table; "Don't you get started too! I heard about the things you've been saying about me."

"What?" Sybil said, nervously.

"Esmeralda told me about you saying I had a crush on Millie!" She said between clenched teeth, not wanting neither Esmie nor their grandma to hear it..

"Well… Yes, but only because I thought you did back then." Sybil responded, just as quietly. "I mean, it was a little obvious!"

"What are you talking about?"

Sybil held up one hand and started counting her fingers; "You blushed and stuttered super hard when she lifted you after your team won the witch ball tournament, you got furious when you did something nice and she didn't immediately react by becoming your best friend, you kept looking at her from across the table, you kept talking about her, giving her compliments and then retracting them by being extra nasty right after, you were so bad at hiding it that mum actually asked me if-"

"What?" Ethel suddenly said loudly, making Esmie and their grandmother stop and stare at her, causing her to blush deeply.

"She did! She didn't seem happy with it!" Sybil continued, still in a low voice. "She hated the idea that her own daughter could love a, you know, Hubble."

"Oh, I get it, this is that talk about Ethel's girlfriend again right?" Her grandma said, with a smile. "Don't listen to your mother dear, she is still sour over… Well, having consequences to her mistakes." She said sarcastically; "It's not your girlfriend's fault."

"Nan, she is not my girlfriend." Ethel explained patiently.

"Ethel just has a little crush on her." Esmeralda said diplomatically.

"Esmie!" Ethel groaned; "No, I don't! I never had!"

"You did in your last years of school." Esmeralda said, keeping the same calm tone.

"You don't know that! You're just listening to Sybil!" Ethel retorted. Their nan gave Sybil a questioning look that said 'Did she have a crush?' to which Sybil replied by scrunching her face up and nodding, to which their grandma nodded back.

"Yes," Esmeralda agreed, "but I was there when you called me at 4 AM because you honestly thought that your obvious crush on her meant you were turning into a homophobe, instead of just realizing that you had it bad for her and was envying her girlfriend." Esmie huffed a little frustrated, getting Ethel to admit her feelings in any open or honest way was like pulling teeth; "God, Ethel, you are about to investigate the girl's whole life just to try and prove that!"

"No, I'm not!" Ethel said, triumphantly and crossed her arms; "I only had problems with her because she was always bringing up things from the past that happened between Mildred and I."

"Yeah, there is a lot of that," Sybil commented absent-minded "and usually you're the awful one in those, Ethel." and Ethel spared her a side eye before continuing;

"Well, it doesn't matter anymore; her girlfriend and I made a truce and I dropped that idea!" 'Also Felicity never got back to me aside from an "I'll see what I can do" about a week ago, so that's a dead end.' she thought to herself.

"Really?" Esmie said surprised, and smiled proudly; "That's great Ethel!"

"Was… The truce your idea or hers?" Grandma Hallow asked, already knowing;

"Hers, grandma." Ethel responded as expected.

Of course, Ethel was just like her mother after all, asking was a formality; "So she sees you as a threat, that's good for you love." Grandma Hallow said rubbing her chin thoughtfully; "Mildred must value your opinion enough that this girl would feel threatened, no matter how much you two had problems in the past."

"I am not interested in Mildred!" Ethel insisted, despite the weirdly happy feeling swelling in her chest at her grandma's words.

"Well, I am just saying that if you did, you could probably have Mildred's heart if you were willing to pursue her."

Esmeralda looked at her grandma shocked; "Nan, Mildred is already dating someone else."

"All is fair in love and war, my dear." She said with a smile, tapping on Esmeralda's hand, then she looked at Ethel. "Darling, you don't have to reveal your feelings right now. You owe no one an explanation that you might not even know yourself." She thought for a moment; "How does it go; 'The heart has reasons that reason does not know...' Something like that? Don't worry about it. Just know that if you love her, you can pursue her and maybe even have success." She said with a devilish smile at her granddaughters, getting mixed results. Esmie looked horrified, Sybil rather into it and Ethel had a blank look, a lot going through her mind, until a waiter saved her by bringing their drinks.

~0~

Enid looked at the familiars assembled besides the couch, taking her eyes from her videogame; "This Batman guy is full of anguish…" She shook her head, throwing her rainbow dreads behind her back; "Yeah, your parents died, but you're rich and in your 30s, that hot catwoman is totally into you, mate… Go be happy! Have a beautiful litter of cute little bat-kittens or something!" She took a sip from her drink.

Ethel transferred in right there, causing Enid to look up at her;

"Honey, you're home!" She turned back to the TV; "Come on, take a seat, relax, feel free to feel like you're home! Maud and Millie will be coming back with pizza soon."

Ethel raised an eyebrow and got a drink from the fridge before sitting besides Enid in the sofa; "Why did they go to buy it instead of just asking for delivery or transfering?"

"Something to do with them having too many deliveries and Millie saying it was a better idea to just go buy it there and bring it back. I stayed because Batman is amusing me by being a big, burly version of Miss Hardbroom and because you can't fit three people in a motorcycle." She offered Ethel a bowl of popcorn and the blonde took a handful.

"So just the three of you? I was half expecting Gerry would be here too." Ethel said, far more relaxed than she would the day before. She was starting to get used to the other woman and ready to let her be.

Enid chuckled; "Oh, she was earlier! She is a lot of fun! Completely untrustworthy, obviously an utter snake in the cauldron, but loads of fun!" She said flippantly while still playing the game.

Ethel starred at her slack jawed, before slowly saying; "W-why do you say that? How do you know?"

"I am a Nightshade, I just know." Enid said and shrugged with a confident expression, and even without looking up, she noticed the way that Ethel was looking at her; "Aaand she lied about a bunch of stuff… Just small stuff though, or big stuff that she thinks no one in the room would know. She knows how to lie without being caught."

Ethel looked unimpressed: "How do you know that?"

"Oh, trust me." She looked at Ethel with confident eyes. "I know."

Ethel knew that look. Some, if not all, witch family had their secrets and apparently, Miss Fern had something that stumbled upon the Nightshade's. "Will you tell Millie?" She asked, with an edge of hope in her voice. Mildred might not listen to her if she tried to say anything, but a Nightshade or Spellbody, yes they might get through.

Enid nodded; "Yes, but I doubt it will have any effect." She admitted; "She'll probably think I am being neurotic and exaggerating and it's not like I can tell her why I think like that."

"I… I didn't like her much either from the beginning." Ethel said, carefully; "We have kind of a truce going on now."

"Ethel Hallow is going along with a truce?" Enid said, still trying to sound sarcastic, but clearly also surprised; "Since when are you like that?" She started tying her hair up.

"We did it for Millie." The blonde explained.

Enid stopped mid tying her dreads; "That makes even less sense!" Enid's surprise was no longer hidden.

"She is my friend, I care about her." Ethel said annoyed.

"Ethel, you don't have any friends-" Enid pointed out.

Ethel looked annoyed at that; "I do now! And I care about her a lot!"

Enid looked at her with one raised eyebrow, rather surprised at how much she had changed. This was even more than she had expected or seen, but everybody has those-

"Are you going to help me deal with this girl or not?" Ethel cut her thoughts off.

"Ok, ok! What are you suggesting?" Enid asked.

Ethel opened her mouth, but; "I got nothing… Yet."

"Ugh, Hallow!" Enid rolled her eyes; "I thought you were better at this! Can't you just make something up? You know, keep the family tradition and all that."

"Oh shut up!" 'Plus, if I tried to lie like my mother I would be immediately caught, Millie would sniff me out in a second.' "I looked up stuff about her. All I discovered is that there is nothing too remarkable about her, nor about her family! She lied about Drusilla's personality, so I am guessing they are not in good terms, but neither am I."

"Drusilla goes to the same school as Maud and I, and we are on good enough terms, I can talk to her! What else?"

"I also spoke to Felicity, but she hasn't gotten back to me-"

"Felicity?" Enid looked up.

"Yeah, she is working at Witch Daily now-"

"No, no I know! I am saying it because she sent you message earlier! You forgot your maglet at home and Millie saw it when you got it, she put it in your room!" Enid said, jumping from the couch and racing to Ethel's room.

"Hey, it's my maglet!" Ethel said coming right after her and managed to get the maglet before her, smiling as she saw Felicity's message;

'So, here is what I could find;'

(tbc)


	5. I Can't Believe It's Not Jealousy

**Chapter 5 - I Can't Believe It's Not Jealousy**

 _Mildred woke up from another nightmare, this time at 1 AM. Still, she took her covers off and stood up from her bed, quietly going out of her room, when she noticed Ethel's door was half open. She quietly went to peek inside and called for her gently, getting no answer._

" _I am in the kitchen." Ethel said and Millie looked in that direction, being able to see her easily since her eyes were still used to the darkness and the full moon's light bathed the apartment. Still, that was a question;_

" _Why are you here in the dark?" She asked, walking towards the kitchen slowly._

" _Full moon, and I thought it was a good idea to be in the dark before going to sleep."_

" _You were up until now?" Millie sat in front of her and smiled._

" _Studying, yes." Ethel drank her tea; "I felt I needed to revise a few notes for a class in 'Regulated and Illegal Herbs'. I didn't even see the time go by." She admitted and wordlesly offered Millie some tea, which she accepted with a nod._

" _Having problems with it?" Mildred asked, taking a sip of tea, grimacing when she noticed she had forgotten to put sugar._

" _No, I just… Like being prepared, I guess." Ethel shrugged, her eyes right on Millie's face, examining it under the pale moonlight as she put two cubes of sugar into her tea._

" _You always seem to." Millie smiled, lighting her whole face up, and she didn't even know it. "It seems like every day I come home to see you hunkered over some books and notes." She took a sip and smiled. "I used to think everything came naturally to you."_

 _Ethel let out a bitter chuckle; "Like a Hallow should, I guess… At least that is what my mother used to say." She took another sip. "None of us were ever good enough to be a Hallow. Maybe Esmie, but certainly not Sybil and I." She paused, thoughtful for a moment. "I didn't see it, I didn't see how much she hurt me and Sybil and even Esmie, with all that pressure to make up for a legacy that was… made up by really horrible people, lying and taking the credit for things like-" She took a deep breath, knowing she didn't have to say it and drank more of her tea; "I used to repeat all of that back to Sybil too. No wonder she went for you for help when she needed any at school."_

 _That caught Mildred by surprise; "Come now, it wasn't like that."_

" _No, it was, I know…" Ethel looked down on her cup; "Don't worry about it, I won't blame you for it as I used to."_

" _At least you're better now, right? I mean, you and Sybil. You'll see each other tomorrow."_

" _I am a little cross with her right now," Ethel admitted, remembering Sybil's big mouth "but generally, we're still far from being what we should be as sisters..."_

 _The blonde froze as she felt Millie's warm hand on hers, and her heart, rather disobediently, started beating faster and her breath caught in her throat._

" _Generally it's still better than before." Mildred said, unknowing sharing the same feelings as Ethel did. "That's a start." She smiled at her, looking her in the eyes. "Sybil went from passing out while trying modern chanting to studying it, that's pretty great, and you are working so hard."_

" _I just want a real legacy we can really be proud of." Ethel admitted; "I want the name Hallow to be respected again and this time, feel like it's worthy of it."_

" _It's still a respected name."_

" _Not as much, and that's with all that people know being about Mirabelle Hubble, my mother's fake petition back in our second year and my parents' suspected involvement in that attempted coup to remove the great wizard." She held Mildred's hand, not willing to let it go. "Me, I… I don't feel any pride over it anymore." Admitting that was harder than she imagined, but feeling that hand on hers gave a sort of strength. Letting it out to someone made her feel a little lighter._

 _Meanwhile, Millie got closer and felt that urge to kiss her again, but ignored it outright this time. It was a feeling she was learning to deal with. Instead she hugged her tightly and rubbed her back. "It's ok; I know it's important for you to be Ethel Hallow, but… I rather enjoy it when you're just Ethel." She felt Ethel's head lay on her shoulder as she relaxed a little._

" _I-" Ethel paused, not knowing what to say to that, until suddenly, she did; "Thank you."_

Millie still remembered how they spend some minutes just hugging each other, until Ethel pulled back and they broke apart, each going to their own rooms.

That was a weird thing to remember while waiting for your pizza to get ready.

"I might have lied." Mildred said suddenly. After it she bit her lower lip and shuffled in her feet uncomfortably while leaning against the counter in the pizzeria, making Maud stop and look at her.

"About what, Millie?" Her friend asked, curious more than anything.

"I actually had other moments when I was with Ethel that I wanted to…" She left it hanging in the air. "I feel terrible about it. I am with Gerry, she is gorgeous and I love talking to her and being with her, she knows so much cool stuff, she even told me she'll help me look up my family's history, see if there are any recordings of it, but I never seem to be able to fully connect to her, you know? At least not intimately. I think that's why we haven't- What Enid asked."

"But you can connect with Ethel?" Maud asked, rather incredulously.

"Now? Yes." Millie looked at her friend, that still looked both shocked and surprised. "Look, you don't know how much she has changed." She then told her about their encounter the night before. "We pulled apart, I just wanted to put my forehead against hers and stare into her eyes… They are beautiful, I had never noticed before."

Maud stared at her slack-jawed; "How long have you been feeling like that? You know, feeling more than just the attraction you had before?"

"A few weeks." Millie admitted, knowing she was already dating Gerry and feeling terrible about it.

Maud got closer; "You think you're in love with her?"

Millie was silent for a few seconds before responding honestly; "I might be, but I don't know, I've never been in love before."

"Me neither..." Maud admitted. "Do you think Ethel likes you back like that?"

Mildred couldn't help but laugh quietly; "No, I really don't."

"You think she might one day?" Her friend continued.

"I don't know… I doubt it." Millie admitted.

"Then why torture yourself?" Maud put her hand on her back.

The other woman shrugged; "I am hardly doing it on purpose. Sometimes you just feel, you can't control it."

"I know, but... Look at you now. You're doing great at college, you have a girl, not to mention the cool motorcycle." Maud shoved her gently with her shoulder, making Millie giggle. "I haven't seen the new Ethel you talk about, maybe you're right, and maybe that is misleading you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you two had a history of being rivals at school, then you came here and there was about a year and half when the two of you didn't even talk to each other… That's a lot of time, it changes a person, does things to a witch. Now here you both are, older, more mature, and you see those changes and suddenly you're more fond of each other than you've ever been before, all the while she is very attractive, has always been, now it isn't just physical anymore."

"What are you saying?"

"That you're suddenly liking someone you didn't before and maybe your feelings are not quite what you think they are? It might just be an infatuation…"

Millie frowned and thought about it; There was some logic to what Maud was saying. Maybe it was an infatuation that she was overblowing. "Might be." She conceded the possibility, just as the pizza came; "Well, let's transfer this home and run back there before Enid eats everything." Mildred said quietly with a small smile.

~0~

 _Well, I looked up and down, Ethel, but all I could find was a small incident that might have involved Miss Fern and also a legend. I would have dismissed both if you hadn't mentioned both her disdain for the Code and the fact that she studies 'Magical Anomalies', so here it goes;_

 _According to my sources, there is an old legend of Phillis Pentangle, that when she founded the school over 500 years ago, she did so over the site of a ritualistic sacrificial ground of a really malevolent coven; The Wicked Five Of Eastwick._

 _Remember them? One of the few times that Miss Bat's Witchory class was interesting was because she was talking about them. I honestly got goosebumps when I read the name, and true to what Miss Bat said, they did bring about their own demise. But the part she didn't tell us, that this legend does mention, is that when they did so, they also supposedly released something into the world. Something that only the power of three witches, bound by blood, could stop. And that's when the Pentangles came into the story._

 _Penelope, Pansy and Polly Pentangle managed to seal away the evil, building a school on top of it, using the power of both the new, ever changing witches and wizards in it and the founding stone to keep it contained._

 _The details here are vague. Some say that there is no way to reach it, some say the Pentangle family alone has access to this vault, which leads to this incident; never officially reported, mostly I could only find information of it by talking to students in the school at the same time;_

 _One night there was an explosion heard only in the lower levels, and the academy fell into darkness, a fog, similar to the mists of time, but black and thick. The students that didn't wake because of the explosion all reported having nightmares. All of them taking place in Pentangle, all of them involving a dark horned creature with red eyes, all very terrifying, but only lasting about 15 minutes, until it suddenly stopped and everything turned back to normal._

 _The whole thing sounds like the kind of stuff that Enid Nightshade would pull as a prank to the school in the last year if she was just a tiniest bit more sociopathic-_

"HEY!" Enid said offended, and Ethel ignored her, going back to Felicity's findings.

 _Still, something told me it wasn't just that._

 _After doing some digging, I was finally able to interview two different students that happened to be out of bed that night, and according to one, they where quietly trying to make their way back to their bed when suddenly a statue moved, opening a corridor that apparently the students didn't know about. From inside of it came Pippa Pentangle, looking exhausted and disheveled, later followed by someone dressed as a student, wearing a rare form of their cape that included a hood. This same story was later corroborated by another student that saw not only miss Pentangles, but the same student wearing the rare version of their cape, so we wouldn't know if that was Miss Fern, but consider a few facts that I discovered;_

 _1 - She had been asking about the legend for years._

 _2 - She had been put on detention several times over the same year the incident took place for wondering the halls at night, but still, all of those times happened before the incident itself, none after it._

 _3 - She had some of the best grades in her school, but was denied entrance in the Stone Henge College Of Magic, which has the best 'Magical Anomalies' course in the world, and my sources say by request of Miss Pentangle herself, through a 'black mark' letter._

 _4 - Miss Pentangle apparently tried the same with Weirdsisters, but her letter was mysteriously late and came after Miss Fern was already firmly established in the school and couldn't be kicked out without reason._

 _Back to our story; the next day Pippa wasn't seen by any students, which was felt, since she was always very present._

 _Of course the official explanation was that the whole thing was a prank by a student, and I was inclined to think that it was true, until you consider everything else that came before, the fact the faculty said nothing about it and the fact no one got punished for pulling something like that._

 _Honestly, I'll keep on researching myself now and keep you posted. This sounds like a scoop._

"That was it?" Enid said, frustrated; "Something might have happened in her last year in Pentangles, that might had been her fault and might involve some big secret in the school? God, Felicity had a better ear for this stuff when she was still at Cackles!" She sat down and crossed her arms, frustrated, when she felt the delicious smell of pizza. "Oh, pizza is here!" She opened the box and took a slice out.

"It's pretty vague and very circumstantial, but if true…" Ethel trailed off, frowning.

"The prank idea is also very likely." Enid said. "Thick black fog and not being able to turn on lights? Odorless smoke bomb combined with an electricity-canceling potion. Nightmares? Just spike everybody's dinner with the Heavy Head Potion with a thin slice of mandrake."

"How many of these have you pulled yourself?"

"A few." Enid shrugged and grinned. "What is a 'black mark' by the way?"

"A special form of letter written from college to the schools, usually during the selection process, when the college wants to know more of a students conduct."

"I probably got one then." Enid joked, biting into her pizza and pulling at the cheese.

"No, you didn't. You're a prankster, those exist to assess if there is a possibility that a student might fall into dark magic."

"Oh..." Showing great restraint, Enid managed to stop herself before she could ask 'Oh, so like you?'

"They write the letter, usually asking the headmaster to make an assessment. The request is serious, so there is a secret meeting with the other teachers… Well, unless the headmaster responds to it alone, but that's rare and involves some personal risk. Anyway, there is a secret meeting, where they analyze your entire school history and and try to reach a consensus."

"And if they don't?"

"Then, they divide in two groups, each with opposing viewpoints. The groups pick representatives, both write letters with their points and leave it to the college to make a decision. Although, anything but a glowing review will get you out of any courses that even remotely touch the Dark Arts…" She took a piece of pizza from the box; "It rarely goes the other way around, but if Pippa really wrote one… Not only is that far more serious, but it also probably had the details of the incident in it. It would be the only way to preemptively stop her from getting in."

"If she is still a student, of a course that is directly related to Dark Arts no less, those can't be too strong."

"Yes, even if the letter was late, they could still go back, I suppose... There is only one way to find out." That was when the door opened and Millie walked in and Ethel rushed to erase what was on her maglet, putting it face down on the table.

"Hey, you're home!" Mildred said, smiling at Ethel. "We got pizza!"

Ethel smiled back at her; "Not for very long if you don't start eating." she teased and took a bite of hers as the four young women, said their hellos and sat around the table, sharing pizza, some drinks and a conversation.

~0~

"Keep me posted…" Enid quietly told Ethel as Maud and Millie hugged in the loud train station. It was the day after, and time to say goodbye; "I'll go look for Drusilla and whatever else I can find out in my college about that girl."

Ethel nodded silently, just as Millie came over to jump on Enid; "Message me when you get there, alright? Both of you! Stay safe! And don't forget to eat something in the train and-"

"No worries mum, we're not going to take candy from strangers, we'll look both sides before we cross, we both are taking coats with us, we'll survive, we promise." Enid mocked, but hugged her back just as tightly.

"You better…" Millie whispered. "Look after each other."

"You two as well." Maud said, looking at Ethel with an unreadable look. They hadn't the time to talk one on one, but Enid seemed to believe that they were in good terms. Maud made a mental note to discuss that with Enid once they had the time.

Millie pulled them to her in a big hug just as the train made the last call, waving as they both got in and the train started moving away.

"I am going to miss them…" She told Ethel as the train disappeared in the distance. "I hope they'll be able to come over for my birthday." Mildred turned around and started to leave the station, looking for a quiet place where they both could transfer without being seen.

"And when is that?" Ethel asked, curiously, realizing she didn't actually know that.

"Seventh of May." Mildred said. "I was born at midday on the seventh of May."

Ethel laughed to herself.

"Why are you laughing?" Millie asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I was born in the seventh of November, at midnight."

Millie laughed; "We really are opposites."

"Yes, I suppose." She sighed, thinking of the implications of that. "I wonder if there is any kind of meaning in it."

"Magical meaning?" Millie asked. "Do you think we were always meant to be- I mean, as rivals and then friends… Or, well not friends, roommates at least. Then friends." She grinned.

"I don't know? Does make you wonder if that's the case, what the next step would be." Ethel grinned, subconsciously looking rather flirtatious as she did so.

Mildred blushed started looking around more attentively for a place to transfer. "We better find a place we can use to leave, I have a class soon!"

~0~

Millie was coming out of her 'Advanced Alchemical Creation Class', carefully examining everything she would need to create her own catalyst stone, not really paying attention when Gerry suddenly jumped on her, easily lifting her up for a second;

"Hello, love!" She said and then gave Mildred a quick peck on the lips. "Is something wrong? You look a bit down."

"No, I am fine. Just some assignments that I think will be pretty hard." She huffed stressed.

"What do they want you to make, a Philosopher's Stone?" Gerry teased, hugging her by the waist as she walked besides her.

"Might as well be that." Mildred frowned, but shook her head not wanting to make everything about her; "Anyway, how was your class?"

"Rather boring, some theoretical stuff. Do you have any more classes today?" She laid her head on Millie's shoulder.

"No, and I don't have to go to work today." Millie put an arm around her back, holding her close by the shoulder and kissing the top of her head.

"Oooh, nice." Gerry. paused a minute and looked around, before whispering. "Would you like to see a special place with me?"

Mildred chuckled; "Why are you talking like that?"

Gerry gave her an impish giggle and kissed her lips quickly; "You'll see!" She then put her pointer finger over her lips and took Mildred back into the college by the hand, taking her to a little hidden wall, knocking on the bricks until she found the one she was looking for. She pulled forward a fake front and cast a spell inside that made the wall open quietly to the side.

"Gerry, what-"

"Shh, no questions, just come with me!" Gerry took her hand again, snapping her fingers to create a light spell in the other hand, going down a long flight of stairs. "Careful now, love, these stones are a bit wet."

"How did you discover this?"

"Oh you know I love exploring around." The black haired woman winked at her. "I knew there must have been something in the college, so I've been looking since I got here."

"Looking for trouble?" Millie teased.

"You either find trouble or it finds you. At least in the first case, you're ready for it."

Mildred laughed, unable to deny the truth of that.

When they reached the end of the stairs there was a corridor, and at the end of that a passageway under an arc, illuminated by the cloud-filtered sun, and even then Millie could see what looked like a flash of color. They went through and there it was, a high chamber with a grate on top from which the sun shone in, and inside thousands of prisms hung from the ceiling, bending the light and covering the walls in rainbows.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Gerry asked as Millie looked around, enchanted.

"Yes, it is gorgeous!" Her eyes diverging from the walls to the floor; "What is this?"

"What?" Gerry looked at her and Millie was on the floor, running her hand over metallic lines on the floor, removing the dirt and grime from it.

"It's an alchemical circle!" Mildred said surprised, as she continued to reveal the lines made in what she now realized was probably tin by the looks of it. "It's tin, associated with Jupiter, and these symbols. Earth, wind, fire… This is a really powerful one."

"What does it do?" Gerry asked.

"I don't know, I- I recognize most of the symbols, but I don't know what they mean in this context." Mildred said, before pulling out her sketch book.

"What are you doing, love?"

"I'll draw it so I can find out what means." She grinned and started sketching the circle.

~0~

Ethel Hallow was doing something she absolutely shouldn't, which was not too uncommon to her to do, though it was very rare these days. However, contrary to most of the other times this was for a good cause, or at least she told herself that as she snuck into the part of the archives that should only be accessible to faculty staff.

She silently cast a spell, revealing the cabinet. It was small and listed all the Black Marks sent by and to the college in the last 50 years in the same file. It was pretty rare occurrence, generally witches that didn't obey the code would go out and do their thing fresh out of places like Wormwood, so looking for the letter F was pretty easy, a file so small it contained F to K.

Ethel pulled out the file and easily came across the file and envelope. There it was, in royal purple ink and everything, sent from Pippa Pentangle to Azalea Bindweed, President. She opened it eagerly, ready to find out the truth of what happened that day, but the envelope was… Empty.

The blonde woman groaned to herself. 'Well, at least it means there was some letter that was sent, that must means something DID happen. But I wonder what happened to the letter itself…' She frowned and went on to put the envelope back when she caught off guard by another name.

 _Hallow. Ethel_

She felt her breath caught in her throat and frowned deeply, she looked around and over her shoulders, her heart racing against her mind, thoughts quickly flooding in; that it looked like it was sent from the college to Cackles, that the council had somehow put her in the list of the black marks, the witches that could break the code and that she somehow still got in which should mean it wasn't that bad, right?

Code Law was another subject of study where they avoided anyone that could come to disobey it, not so much because it was a secret they shouldn't know, but because people who were willing to break the law shouldn't make the law as well. Much evil was done in this world without being considered "breaking the law" as many rotten things had been perfectly legal.

Was it her mother's unlawful actions? Maybe her family's fame? She didn't know, and against her better judgement, she reached for it and opened the letter to read it.

(tbc)


	6. Alright, It Might Be Jealousy

**Chapter 6 - Alright, It Might Be Jealousy**

 _Ada Cackle had sat in her office looking down on the Black Mark letter with a despondent expression, waiting for Hardbroom to respond to her call and appear in her office. Which she eventually did, grave expression, and looking down on the list on the first year candidates they had to come._

" _Can you believe this, Ada? Once again we have both a Hubble and a Hallow in the same year. Henrietta and Mona better be on better terms than their cousins, or I might retire at once! Let's hope Mona takes after her mother and not her aunt. Epona was always much quieter than Ursu-" She stopped dead on her tracks when she looked up;_

" _Ada, is something wrong?"_

" _Hecate, I need you to call a staff meeting for today. I wish to respond to this as soon as possible."_

" _Is that a Black Mark letter?" Hardbroom asked, approaching her table with a frown._

 _Ada nodded; "Yes, from Weirdsisters."_

 _That made Hardbroom's frown grow deeper; "Mildred?" If there was anyone that could list Mildred Hubble's faults one by one, that person was Hecate Hardbroom, she could probably fill a series of books with all of them, maybe even call them "The Worst Witch" or something along those lines, but even she couldn't find one malicious bone in Mildred._

" _No, quite the opposite in fact." Ada said, looking up at her friend._

 _The phrase surprised Hecate, until suddenly it dawned on her; "Ethel Hallow?" She asked with disbelief._

 _Ada nodded._

 _That was somewhat easier for Miss Hardbroom to believe, to an extent; "I'll warn the staff of the meeting."_

 _Ada crossed her fingers in front of her, looking gravely at the letter in her desk, frowning, thoughtful. "On second, thought, Hecate… Don't."_

 _Miss Hardbroom stopped at the door and turned around to look at her; "Ada?"_

 _With determination Miss Cackle reached for a piece of paper from one of her drawers. "It won't be necessary. I'll write the response alone, no consultation."_

" _Ada, are you mad?" Miss Hardbroom walked towards her, a deep frown creasing her forehead; "You'll be putting your reputation on the line! If Ethel turns to-"_

" _I know, but I am willing to risk it." She looked up. "Ethel Hallow does not deserve this, despite everything. Azalea is speaking because of things done by Ursula Hallow and other members of the Hallow family." Ada started writing down. "Ethel has been dealing with the consequences of that name her whole life. And now it risks taking away her future. I won't allow it, especially not now she seems to be growing into her own person."_

" _Still, risking your own reputation is not something I would expect you to-"_

" _Hecate, didn't you do the same for Mildred?" Ada said, looking up at her._

 _Miss Hardbroom jumped slightly; "I-I well her application wasn't complete, I added to it, as I would for any pupil!"_

" _You wrote a whole separate letter and told them that, and I quote; 'Refusing Mildred Hubble in itself would be a testimony to the fall of the institution due to its inability to see true talent and potential'. I read the whole thing, Hecate."_

 _Miss Hardbroom blushed deeply as the whole room descended into silence for a few moments, until the flustered witch finally let out a deep breath; "I'll trust your judgement."_

Ethel focused her eyes on the neat handwriting of the letter, the words in it filling her with an immeasurable amount of respect and affection for Miss Cackle as she responded point by point, what Ethel assumed, to be accusations and questions that filled the original letter, which were absent from the document.

She couldn't help but remember the last time she felt that way about her;

" _Will you go easy on her? For the sake of her daughters?"_

'I need to get out of here…' She thought, putting everything back into place, carefully closing it, suddenly taken by a fear she could harm Miss Cackle by her impulsive actions.

Again.

'Not to mention, if I am discovered here, I could be-'

"Ethel?" She heard someone calling her and cold shiver ran up and down her spine, as her heart once again started beating fast against her chest as someone approached her from the shadows; "What are you doing here?" He finally walked into the light, it was Zac. "Only teachers and a few TAs are allowed here, what are you-"

"Zac, I had to come here, I needed to see something! Please don't tell anyone!" She begged, grabbing his arm imploringly; "Help me get out before someone else catches me."

"Why, what the-"

"It's a long story, I promise I'll explain it later, but right now I can't be caught here, please!"

He looked at her helpless expression and his kindness spoke louder; "Alright, come with me." He held her hand and started leading her out of there in silence, mostly keeping to the shadows, making a mental note to ask her later what the hell was going through her mind… And, honestly, to ask himself what was going through his.

Well, maybe it was because he liked Ethel, even if her personality could be a little overwhelming at times. They were both in line to being TAs at one point, she was still the smartest one in the class, the best grades, best assignments and most interesting takes, all of that according to their own teacher-

"Mr. Hawthorne! Is that Miss Hallow?" Speak of the devil.

"Doctor Birdman!" Ethel jumped and stared at him. "Hi…" She added, awkwardly.

"Hello…" Harvey Birdman said, his owl-like glasses reflecting the light; "Why are you here? You're not supposed to be here. Mr. Hawthorne, do you know why Miss Hallow is here?"

"I brought her here, sir!" Zac said quickly.

"Ooh… You shouldn't and you know that." Dr Birdman frowned deeply.

"I know sir, but…" Zac started to explain himself. "We needed to have a personal conversation, it was important and I dragged her here. It wasn't her fault, I swear, please, I don't-"

While he spoke, Dr. Birdman's eyes went from him to her to their united hands, and suddenly he rose his to make him stop talking. "I see, I see… I understand, I was young once." He said wistfully, remembering when he and his Ben would sneak around to be together. It's hard to find time to be together in college, he understood that. "This time I'll let it pass. JUST this time! Now get out of here. And if someone else sees you two tell them I called you both here." He smiled mildly.

Zac and Ethel thanked him and ran off.

~0~

Mildred was sitting on the floor with her alchemy books all around her as she individually re-read the meaning of each symbol in the circle she had found. All of it was there, except the type of circle: an absolutely crucial detail that gave context to the whole thing.

At MOST, the closest one she could find was "the seal", a rare type of circle that was used to 'seal with extreme prejudice.' Which was less impressive once you learned that meant it was mostly used in letters.

Seeing the dramatic and over-the-top ways that wizards and witches would name things made for simple tasks always gave Mildred a rush of nostalgia and made her think of Miss Hardbroom. She didn't know why.

Still, it wasn't perfectly identical, which meant they could have completely different effects. Because if there was a word to define alchemical circles it would be "temperamental" and sometimes one extra little notch on one end of it could change the whole meaning.

She groaned with frustration and put the annotations aside, deciding she would see what to do with it later. Instead, she reached for her alchemy homework, reading the instructions carefully before she pulled out and laid out on the floor a small, cheap, felt rug with alchemical symbols carefully written around an alchemical circle. Then Mildred placed four identical cups around it; One filled with dirt, another with water, another with a beautifully red colored potion and finally the last one with nothing.

She snapped her fingers and the potion ignited and became pure fire as she put a small rock carved with a circle that had a cross in the center, concluding the single most dramatic college homework in history.

Creating a catalyst stone was absolutely necessary to be able to do any kind of work with alchemy, since the stones replaced the spells and incantations, making alchemy far more straightforward even if it was still too volatile to teach to a young witch.

Of course, that convenience had a price, but one that a good alchemist was willing to pay. So Mildred rubbed her hands together, taking a deep breath.

" _From earth, wind, fire, and water, I am sworn_

 _I request the elements to help this catalyst be born_

 _From magic, soul, mind and heart be shown_

 _I too connect my power with this stone"_

She felt something pulling at her chest and making a connection with something cold. It was the rock, their powers connected, shared and pressing into her chest, making her feel very light headed and drained until she felt a sudden surge of energy course through her body. She jumped to her feet from a sitting position easily, she felt electricity sparking at her fingertips, her body restless and wanting to move as she looked around the apartment; That would do! She was walking around, ready to clean the whole place all on her own!

Mildred then passed out.

~0~

Tabby and Nightstar observed the whole thing, up until Millie was on the floor, causing Tabby to suddenly jolt upwards and run to his witch. The cat meows loudly with distress, walking towards Millie's face and licking the tip of her nose, getting no response. He goes on to try and bite it, but is stopped by Nightstar, who points at her gently moving chest.

The tabby cat huffs, still worried, and lies besides Millie's face, watching over his witch.

Nightstar got on the counter and sat down, also keeping an eye out as it was her duty, when a familiar smell filled her nostrils just before a transfer took place, bringing an elderly, blue eyed witch into the room.

Tabby jumped to his paws, hissing protectively, but stopped as Nightstar looked him and meowed loudly, before she approached the witch and started to rub against her legs with great fondness, making the elderly witch smile and pick her up.

"Hello old friend, are you taking good care of Ethel? Of course you are." She whispered as she caressed the black cat. "And you must be Tabby, a very distinguished look you have for a familiar from Cackles, you must be proud." She smiled, and Tabby puffed up a little.

She looked at the passed out witch on the floor "And Mildred, I presume." She examined her, seeing the stone pressed into her chest and shook her head, chuckling to herself; "Catalyst stones are always a surprise." She put Nightstar down gently and rubbed her hands together before holding them out to cast a spell, making Mildred float gently until she was lying comfortably on the sofa.

"Now, that has to be better than being on the floor." she approached Tabby and caressed under his chin. "I am sorry I didn't introduce myself before, I am Enya Hallow, Ethel's grandmother." Enya put her hand on Mildred's forehead. "I think she will be up soon. I'll make her some tea, she'll need it. She is a bit cold."

Tabby curled near Mildred's head once again, as Nightstar kept close to Enya.

The Hallow family had made their fortune by several means, but perhaps the one where they cheated their way to power the least was through a herbology and potion empire, having gone so far to actually try to sell a few potions in the non-magical world under the guise of 'Energy Drinks'. Unfortunately, when some people started to literally get wings, the council made them pull it out of the shelves.

Still, fact was that Enya could whip up a rather special tea in seconds, using the right ingredients and enchantments on the right box of tea. She started to prepare something that would make Mildred feel much lighter as soon as she drank it, and perhaps, more willing to have a little talk to the Hallow Matriarch.

~0~

"You and Ethel are being neurotic." Maud said, as Enid and her stood outside the Magical Crafting Department. "Or rather, you're neurotic, Ethel is just jealous. There is nothing wrong with Gerry. She is nice and fun and-"

"A liar." Enid said. "I think you're just afraid to go in and talk to Drusilla."

"And you're not?" Maud said, looking towards the witch working with the hammer.

Drusilla Paddock was a quiet person. She didn't interact with her peers much in college, spending most of her time in the magical crafting department, sculpting things. Usually with a big hammer and chisel, one of the few standing by the old art of object-based magic, not only in the usual way of crafting staves, brooms and wands, but the older ways of the magical tribes around the world.

Fortunately, she was too concentrated on her work to pay attention to what the two witches observing her where talking about.

"She has always been intimidating." Maud admitted. "Even as just Ethel's lackey when she was a kid, but look at her now! She looks like she can deadlift and throw me at you if we say anything that displeases her. She is twice as tall as both of us."

Enid rolled her eyes; "Alright, stay here then." and she just walked in, going straight for Drusilla. "Hey Drusilla, long time no see. How are you? I am fine. Anyway; do you know a Geraldine Fern?"

Drusilla looked over her shoulder, taking a moment to recognize the person; "Nightshade?" She then frowned. "Did you say Geraldine Fern?"

"Yup! I heard you two were at Pentangles together."

Drusilla rose an eyebrow, still visibly angry; "Oh, did you?"

"Yeah, what can you tell me about her?" Enid said, despite starting to feel the danger.

"Nightshade, I know you probably still think of me as the girl you met in school. You know, Hallow's muscle that without someone, like her or Fern around to tell her what to do, will just fold when someone like you comes around." She got closer, and actually made Enid gulp; "Well, you're wrong. I am well over those days of my life. I don't know what Fern has done to you or why you suddenly care about her or are even talking to me for the first time in a year and a half or so, but the fact is, you're gonna have to find someone else to ask those questions to. Now…" her voice lowered "Fuck off."

"... Alright, bye." Enid said and briskly walked away.

~0~

"Doctor Birdman probably thinks we're a couple now." Zac said, as he walked besides Ethel.

"Sorry about that…" Ethel said, breathing easily now that they were away. "We can pretend to have a pretty bad break up if you wish. I do owe you one for covering for me there."

"What were you doing there?" He asked.

"I had to look something up." Ethel responded, making it quite obvious there was nothing else she would like to say about it. "Look, I owe you one, if there is anything I can do for you?"

Zac smiled at her; "How about a date? That remake of _The Craft_ just came out, I remember you mentioning how much you like laughing at the inaccurate magic used in those movies."

Ethel thought about it, how many ideas that she was interested in Millie would seem more absurd if she said yes: "Maybe something else, Zac." Her voice was even and clear.

"Oh, alright I see." He smiled and nodded; "Alright, so when I feel I need something, I'll come to you then."

"Sounds fair. You know where to find me. Thank you again, but I better go now." She waved at him and started walking towards her next class, leaving Zac behind as he waved back.

~0~

Mildred stirred slowly, feeling her whole body ache and accidentally shoving her face into Tabby's torso, since he was lying right besides her. "Hey Tabs…" She slow sat up, her blurry vision showing her someone walking around her kitchen. Tall, blonde, wearing dark clothes with accents of purple.

"Ethel?" She asked. The person chuckled in response;

"Far from it…" The stranger responded. She had the gentle voice of an older woman. "Though I have heard sometimes that Ethie did take after me." The figure walked towards her with a cup of tea, and sat besides her, just as Mildred's eyes finally focussed. "Still, I do believe we met once before… You were somewhat younger and I was much, MUCH younger." She smiled, as she came into focus; "Enya Hallow." She introduced herself, giving Millie her tea as Nightstar came to snuggle on her lap. "Nice to finally meet you again, Miss Hubble."

Mildred looked at her slack jawed, frankly surprised this woman didn't, well, hate her… Also that she did seem to remember the 'Mists of Time' incident, where Millie managed to find Nightstar laying on her lap after she ran away, much like how the cat was doing right now.

"Met well! Uh, I mean-" Mildred hasty gestured, "Well met, Mistress Hallow." 'Oh god, I hope that's the right way to say that!' "I, uh… Ethel isn't home yet! She'll be back in an hour-" she looked up at the clock "half an hour- Oh god, how long was I knocked out?"

Enya chuckled to herself and put a hand on the girl's arm; "Calm now, dear, it's alright, it happens when you make a catalyst stone. Yours is perfect by the way, great job." she reached for the small stone on top of the table and gave it to Mildred. "Very well crafted."

Mildred looked down at her stone, examining it carefully; "Thanks… Do you know anything about catalyst stones?"

"Oh, yes." She pulled one from her pocket. "See? Mine is a permanent one, however. Yours will last you a year or two."

"The professor said it's a-"

"Security measure, yes." Enya finished for her. "The professor should have warned you of the risk of losing your consciousness while making one as well."

"He might have mentioned while I wasn't paying attention actually. My mind sometimes gets away from me." Millie admitted, blushing and rubbing her forehead, her head hurting a little.

"Drink your tea, it will help you feel better." The elderly Hallow said and Mildred nodded, doing exactly that. "So, what is living with my granddaughter like?"

"Great actually…" Mildred felt something warm go through her, making her feel… Honest and open; "Which is a bit of a shock. I was used to Ethel being a bitch when we were at school, but now she is much more mature and a better person, not to mention hot and kinda darkly attractive, but also actually attractive" Mildred spoke without being able to contain herself or thinking much, "Point is, I am attracted." She looked at Enya's face; "Oh god, I am so sorry I said all of that… I mean, I was already shocked you didn't hate me outright because I stopped your daughter from doing a lot of evil shit for almost a decade, and kinda ruined your family name by existing, now I am here talking about how I am hopelessly attracted to your granddaughter and I can't stop talking, oh my god!"

Enya waved her off; "That's alright dear, we all have our moments of not being able to stop ourselves." She smiled warmly and invitingly, which was shocking for Mildred; "Anyway, is it just attraction you feel, or you think it might be something deeper?"

"Oh, certainly! Probably… I just hope it isn't!" Mildred admitted. "I doubt she feels the same way about me and I wouldn't want to be that person that just pines for someone else endlessly and I am dating someone else! What kind of scumbag witch am I?" Mildred started hyperventilating. "I need to shut up! I need to get out of here! It was nice to meet you ma'am, I am sorry your daughter is an awful bitch! AAAAHHH!" Millie shoved her entire fist in her mouth and ran off into her room, not noticing Enya holding back her smile as she went to prepare another tea.

One with the antidote.

The door open and unlocked, Ethel coming in and before she said anything else, she just looked at her grandma; "Grandma, I could smell it from the corridor." She looked at her. "Please tell me you didn't give Mildred the 'special' tea?"

Enya smiled sheepishly. "I might have?"

"Grandma!" Ethel groaned, taking off her coat. "Come on, let's make the antidote."

The elderly Hallow approached her granddaughter, noticing the tension in her shoulders. Tension always accumulated on her shoulders, just like with her mother. Sybil and Esmie where more like Ulisses, tension went straight to their jaw; "Is everything alright, dear? You're tense," she smiled "and you didn't even give me a hug or said hi or asked why I am here."

Ethel sighed and went to her grandma, hugging her tightly; "Sorry nan, I had a bit of a stressful day."

Enya ran her hands over her back, soothing her; "We all have those, love. You're home now, just relax, that's what home is for." She smiled

"You're my home…" Ethel said quietly and pulled back. "Why did you do that to Mildred?"

"I have my reasons, don't worry… I like her, she is smart. Even if she wasn't exactly speaking nicely about your mother, but I can't blame her for that." Enya sighed. "Anyway, I like her, that's all that matters." She put the tea in a cup. "There, go take it to her." The elderly Hallow smiled sweetly.

Ethel knew her grandma better than that, but she accepted it, going to Mildred's room and opening the door without knocking, meeting with her laying on her bed, her whole face shoved into her pillow, then she suddenly looked up; "Ethel, I have to-"

"No you don't! Don't say a word!"

"But-" Mildred looked at her with adorable big eyes, which Ethel ignored:

"No! You're under the influence of one of my grandma's 'special' herb mixes! Just be quiet and drink all of this!" Ethel sad on her bed and offered Millie the tea.

Outside, Ethel's grandma was holding her laughter back, hearing the talk between them and took the herbal blend from her purse; "Nightstar, Tabby; I believe you two will know what do with this when the time comes, right?" She sat on the sofa and gave them the little silk bag containing it, which they took it away to hide, making the woman laugh to herself.

Then she couldn't help but turn her attention to Mildred's books and her drawing, her smile leaving her face, and putting in its place a surprised look; "The 'Seal of the Titans'? A little too advanced for someone in Miss Hubble's year… This used to be material for the-" She examined Mildred's annotations; "Ah, I see, she is trying to learn something." She summoned her favorite fountain pen, a present from Esmie and Ethel for her 60th birthday, and smiled at the familiars; "Well, I suppose after what I've done to the poor girl, it wouldn't hurt to tell her what she wants to know."

She then wrote down, in turquoise colored ink and beautiful handwriting, the name of the seal and the book where she could find it.

(tbc)


	7. Percussion, Strings, Winds, Words

**Chapter 7 - Percussion, Strings, Winds, Words...**

Weirdsister was bustling with activity, as the whole Witchory department prepared it's annual historical ball, during which the whole school was invited provided they came dressed as historical figures of the witching world, with the exceptions of Morgana and Merlin.

The ball was fun, but unfortunately, the organization always went far beyond just the Witchory department, soon enough the Chanting department was getting involved, then the Magical Arts one, and before you knew it, every department that was even remotely related to any humanistic or artistic endeavors were involved.

So of course Mildred got in, forcing her to stay at school so late she actually managed to get home after Ethel had already taken her shower and put on her comfortable clothes for the night, all of this, in a week that was already not particularly good for the Worst Witch. Mildred let out a frustrated grunt as she fell on the sofa, right beside Ethel, rubbing her face with both hands and groaning loudly.

"You sound happy." Ethel said, deadpanned and without looking up from her book. She took a slow sip of her tea before continuing: "Had a good day?"

"No… Couldn't see Gerry, the whole college is a mess because of the masquerade ball the Witchory department is organizing, Nick still hasn't gotten back to me about the favor he owes me and I can't find the book I need anywhere." Millie responded, taking her hands from her face and leaning back, her hand playing with the catalyst stone that now hung from her neck. "Went out of print in 1888 and its super rare now. I don't even know how your grandma knows about it."

' _Oh, yeah, the ball… Still haven't responded to the invitations I got- Wait did she say...'_

"My grandma?" She realized something; "Oh, the Hallow library. It's one of the biggest private libraries in the world. Grandma probably had no idea how rare it was since she's had it available to her her whole life." Ethel looked at her. "What book?"

"Uh," Mildred said, not sounding even slightly suspicious, "A research book for alchemy… Nothing important!" She forced a smile.

Ethel frowned deeply, feeling that all of this was somehow related to Gerry, still frustrated at herself for not being able to figure out anything else about the other witch; "Yeah, sure." She looked down at her book again; "You don't have to tell me, but don't lie to me."

Her tone made Mildred cringe and feel terrible about not telling her; "Come on, Ethel! It's-" she sighed, "a thing?" stopped, giving up and deciding to just tell her; "Look, about a week ago, Gerry showed me a special place under the college."

' _Oh, I fucking KNEW it had something to do with that viper'_ "Special place?" She said, ignoring the mild jealousy that came over here from that expression.

"Yeah, it's… Right under the central patio." Millie's face lit up and she smiled openly, putting her hand on Ethel's arm; "The sun comes in through the top, there are prisms hanging from the ceiling, the sunlight hits them and covers the walls in rainbows, It's kinda beautiful, you should see it!" Millie's smile widened, wishing she could take Ethel there alone, just the two of them… It would be very romantic. She shook her head to dispel that; "Anyway, on the floor I discovered an alchemical circle!" Millie went to fetch the drawing. "Here, look." She showed to her.

Ethel cocked an eyebrow; "That handwriting it's familiar-"

"It's your nan's, she left a little note apologizing for spiking my tea with… That thing? I don't know what it is…" Mildred remembered, blushing at the things she told the Hallow Matriarch. "Gerry seemed interested, I was too, so I am investigating what it means."

"And Gerry didn't know the circle was there, of course." Ethel rolled her eyes. ' _Yes, Mildred, she absolutely didn't take you there to see it or anything! She absolutely isn't using you!'_

Mildred frowned: "What do you mean by that?"

"You are really… Nothing! It's your problem, Hubble." Ethel went silent, angrily turned back to her book.

"I- What?" Millie asked, looking at Ethel, distressed and confused. "What?" She insisted when she didn't get a response. "Are you back on hating her for no reason? I thought you two had stopped that, well she did at least, but you can't stop being a- I don't know! You just distrust her for no reason!"

Ethel huffed and got up from the sofa, leaving to lock herself in her room, but was stopped half way by Mildred, who got in behind her before she could go through the door, and basically made the blonde face her in the narrow corridor; "You're running away now? What is your problem why can't you-" words where caught in her throat as Ethel got much closer, looking her straight in the eyes.

"You're a blind idiot sometimes, you know?" Ethel said, her voice tired and frustrated; "I don't care about her, I care about you!" She came closer, they were touching now, and they faced each other, her eyes moving from Millie's face to her lips, breath catching up on her throat, as she felt the tension mount, knowing she just needed to move her head a few centimeters forwards to touch her lips on Millie's.

Millie stared at the blonde woman, the tension growing palpable and her arms wanting to reach out and bring her close, finish it at once, but she couldn't, even as Ethel's finger hooked her shirt, in a very subtle gesture, but still pulling her closer as her ex-rival slowly cocked her head sideways, while Mildred was licking her own lips in anticipation.

Before that, however, Mildred suddenly remembered herself and, more importantly, her girlfriend and pulled back, breathless, and mumbled; "W-what?" She shook her head; "S-sorry, I didn't mean to-"

Ethel frowned deeply and turned her back on her, furious, as she said; "You didn't do anything..." going into her room and slammed the door closed behind her.

Mildred turned red with anger and stood up; "Fine then!" She left the corridor and went to her own room, putting together an overnight bag, placing Tabby inside her bag with his helmet and goggles on and then leaving the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

She came back seconds later, huffing, still angry, but also realizing she probably should be considerate enough to explain where she was going, and wrote a little note, before huffing once more and leaving again, slamming the door one more time, having decided she much rather spend the night at her father's and maybe come back the day after.

' _But seriously, did Ethel almost kiss me?'_

~0~

Ursula Hallow had glasses artfully perched at the end of her nose as she examined the quarterly balance of the potions sales with a clinical eye, taking notes here and there of changes in trends in sales among other things, trying to keep to the back of her mind how she, at least expected, by that point, Esmeralda would be there to help her with these.

The glasses had been a recent addition, she never needed them before in her life, but now she was getting old. She sighed tiredly and took them off, applying some pressure to her eyes, shoulders tense and hardened, she felt the weight of age on them, she heard the deafening silence of the house now that all of her daughters were gone, leaving behind them just the quiet footfall of Morningstar, her familiar, paddling around the house quietly.

The general stillness drove her mad. Not that she never had it before, all of her girls leaving because of school during most of the year would take care of that, but it was strange; Now it was quieter than ever, almost like every corner of the mansion knew the girls wouldn't be back soon and the air itself was more still.

It was still better than certain visitors… Such as her mother, that had made an unexpected visit that morning, to have a talk…

One of those talks.

It always shocked Ursula how her mother, suddenly, now when she was a grown woman and no longer needed her always seemed to show up for a talk or another, and always on the same topic; How much Ursula failed as a mother.

Yes, like Enya Hallow could talk about that with any measure of knowledge! The woman that had always paid so little attention to her eldest, her heir, now wanted to give her lessons on how to look after her girls.

And even that morning, Ursula was very tense, much like how she was now;

" _Ma'am, your mother is here." a maid announced, immediately causing the tension on her shoulders to double._

" _Send her in, Miss Hill." Ursula said, putting the reports aside; "And bring us some tea, the usual." She stood up and forced a smile upon her face; "Mother! How great to see you!" She walked to her mother and hugged her. "How are you doing?"_

 _Enya smiled back at her; "Pretty great dear. I got a call from Mona today, telling me about how her second year in Cackles is coming along. I paid a visit to Esmie recently, and Sybil as well, and saw Ethel last week and I was wondering;" She looked up at her daughter; "Why haven't you yet?"_

" _... Excuse me?" said Ursula, playing dumb._

" _I know you visited Esmeralda last month, and Sybil about a week ago, but you haven't seen Ethel in months.'_

" _Oh? I didn't notice." Ursula lied, taking a seat and indicating one to her mother. "She never seems to be home when I call her. Usually it's just that-" She paused, trying to find the word; "Girl who is there."_

" _So you do know Mildred Hubble is her roommate."_

" _Of course I do! I know you think I don't keep an eye on Ethel, Mother, but I do!" Ursula said, slightly cross, but knowing better than directly challenge her mother._

" _An eye is nice, Ursula, but hardly enough. Your daughter also needs you, fully." Enya reprimanded._

" _Ethel never needed me." 'I needed you, but you much rather be with Epona after all...'_

" _She does more than anyone else Ursula, how can you be so blind?"_

" _I know my daughters." Ursula said, stubbornly. "I do not wish to discuss this right now."_

" _Well, it needs to be discussed, dear!" Enya said with pleading eyes; "I know I made mistakes with you. I was blind, but now all I see is you doing the same to Ethel and I fear that if you don't change, might be too late-"_

 _Ursula looked at her mother, her mouth opening, wanting to ask what she meant by that, but at that very moment, the maid came back in with the tea._

The talk never went back to that topic since Ulisses arrived shortly after and his presence seemed to make her mother not want to talk about it anymore, but still, as always, her mother had put the idea in her head. Ursula now found herself thinking of Ethel a lot, examining, with some regret, the frailed relationship with her middle child. The truth was that Ethel and her saw each other very little, because Ethel never seemed to WANT to see her!

Deciding her mother didn't know what she was talking about, Ursula slipped her glasses back on, going back to the finances, trying to ignore the nagging part in the back of her mind that still repeated her mother's words.

~0~

Maud was seated at her desk in the apartment she shared with Enid, looking at her homework as Enid got ready to go out right behind her. To try and harrass Drusilla into giving out anything about Gerry… Again; "You've been trying this for a week. I am pretty sure she might throw you out of a window if you keep it up. You can see her patience slowly slipping away everytime you talk to her."

"She won't do anything in her work place!" Enid dismissed her, putting on her boots. "Plus, I am just going out to dance in the 'Little Miss Moonshine', she just happens to be the bartender there! I am just a client trying to have a talk to a bartender, that's all."

"Hum, sure." Maud said, rolling her eyes and yawning.

"Ugh, are you really going to stay home? You possibly can't have that much to study."

"Easy for you to say, you're winging your way through Witch Studies." Maud shot back, a little more bitter than she expected to sound.

"Oh shut up, you grumpy child! We both know you'll close those books and go back to your cartoon marathons, and yes, I know you've watched all of Steven Universe last time I went out,-"

"I didn't!" Maud tried to cut her.

"-Stop pretending you're super mature and don't enjoy the stuff you enjoy!" Enid came behind her and put both hands on her shoulders. "Come on, it's Friday night! We might meet some hot guys." She said, as her eyebrows moved up and down in a wave. "Or at least just get drunk and relax a little."

"You know I hate nightclubs! It's loud, it's cramped, you can't talk to anyone, it's always either too hot or too cold, usually depending on where the hell you are-"

"Yeah, in the general area, but Drusilla will be working in the ViP bar tonight so I'll have to pay for it if I want to talk to her." She grinned and got closer to her ear, quietly saying; "That means big comfy sofas, smooth jazz, a acclimatized ambiance AND probably some very interesting documentary about rock and roll's influence on chanting or something shown in the wall with subtitles."

Maud, stopped, looking like she was almost cracking, so the Enid decided to give the final blow.

"And I'll pay for your drinks..."

Maud's face slowly lit up; "Alright, let's go!"

~0~

Mildred parked her motorcycle outside her dad's house, feeling her body, especially her butt, extremely sore after an hour and a half drive. She stretched and walked towards the front door, finding the quiet stillness of the house to be rather strange, since she had grown used to her father's house always buzzing with activity of all the extended family her father seemed to have.

She pressed the doorbell and suddenly the garage door opened, a slightly portly, brown haired man with glasses, a beard and a beer in his hand coming from it; "Hey, look at this! It's my girl!" he said with a big smile as he walked towards her, hugging her tightly and lifting her up from the ground; "Millie! What a great surprise! Came to visit to your old man, huh?" He put an arm around her shoulder and brought her into the garage. "Come on! Bring your motorcycle in!"

Millie ran to fetch it and brought inside the small garage, as Tabby unceremoniously went inside the house, curling up on top of Dave's Queen Mab costume he used for his drag shows.

"Shame Donna and Moira are not here, they would love to see their big sister, but it's Mary's weekend with them, you know." He excused himself.

"Are they still wearing the fairy wings everywhere?" Millie asked with a chuckle.

Dave laughed; "Yes! They practically haven't taken them off since you made it for them!" He moved to the front of his truck, looking on the motor. "If you want a drink, we have beer and sodas in the fridge." He opened his own drink, but was waiting for her to get one for herself before drinking it.

"Sounds great actually." Millie walked to it and got a can of cherry coke; "Need some help fixing your truck?"

"Only if we'll have a nice conversation on why you showed up like that while we do it." Dave smiled warmly at her.

Millie sighed; "I was hoping you wouldn't ask… Or notice." She admitted.

"I am your father, I notice everything!" He took a sip from his drink. "Oh damn it, I got the beer on accident."

Mildred laughed and put her coke aside as her dad went to get a new drink. "Alright dad, i'll tell you all about it."

~0~

Sybil Hallow was sitting alone in the ViP lounge of the 'Little Miss Moonshine' and asking herself why she had listened to her friends and come to the nightclub anyway if she was going to stay in the ViP lounge, away from everything. This wasn't the first time this had happened to her anyway.

She sighed to herself and stood up, going to sit in the bar. "A Piña Colada, please." She asked, slouching slightly.

The woman in the bar gave her a strange look, almost like she was recognizing her from somewhere, but just nodded and started to prepare her drink; "Witch style?" the bartender asked and Sybil just nodded.

"You don't seem too happy to be here, miss." The bartender said, giving her the drink with a few added drops of spirit lifting potion,.

"I am not." Sybil admitted. "My friends dragged me here. Not a big fan of nightclubs or the like you know." She took a sip of her drink. "Not a big fan of drinking either." She took another sip. "You looked like you knew me for a second there."

"I felt like I did. You look familiar, honestly."

"I have two elder sisters, maybe you knew them?" Sybil offered her hand, the drink already causing her to loosen up a little; "Name is Sybil Hallow."

"Oh, you're Ethel's little sister." The Bartender took her hand; "I am Drusilla Paddock," she grinned before adding sarcastically; "I used to be your sister's lackey in our first year in Cackles."

"Awesome! I was her lackey when she was home, so I guess we already have something going for us." Sybil laughed and drank more.

Drusilla smirked; "And how is Ethel? Still the same, treating you like a lackey?"

Sybil shook her head and put her drink down; "She has changed, she is more mature now. Even getting over her old-" Sybil made a face, thinking of the right word; "...shite? Yeah, that's the word! Hey, remember Mildred Hubble? Ethel is living with her now!" She smiled, open mouthed; "Isn't that crazy?"

Drusilla looked at her rather shocked; "They are- Dating?"

"PPppffffr! No!" Sybil took a drink and made an aside with her hand; "Ethel wishes tho…" She winked, in an over the top fashion. "She has had a little crush since like, third year, but no, they are just roommates!" Sybil took another drink; "Millie is actually dating this girl, oh what's her name? Something old and- Wait, that's all of us… Uh… Geraldine! Geraldine Feeeeern, I think?" She finished her drink, turning it upside down and draining it till the last drop. "Hey, can I get a second?"

"Sure…" Drusilla said quietly, barely paying attention. Suddenly all the insistence on Nightshade's part on knowing about Geraldine made sense and gave her some pause. Drusilla didn't feel any special way about Mildred, so she asked herself if she should really care. "There you go." She gave Sybil her drink, which she took and left with for the main dance floor, passing by Maud and Enid coming in.

"Was that Sybil? She looked a little… Drunk." Maud commented, a little worried.

"She is an adult, she'll be fine!" Enid dismissed her; "Alright, there she is!" She said, seeing Drusilla. "So, you gonna talk to her?" She grinned, but Maud frowned back.

"Me?" Maud frowned.

Enid nodded profusely; "Yeah! Come on, for Millie's sake?"

"Yeah, you forget I don't think Millie is in any danger! I like Gerry!" Maud crossed her arms and mumbled under her breath; "I rather she be with Gerry than with Ethel."

"Sure! Millie will just jump to Ethel's arms just because she broke up with Gerry."

Maud sighed; "She might, actually."

"Millie wanted to kiss her ONCE!" Enid pointedly raised one finger and to her surprise, Maud reached for her wrist and slowly started putting fingers up, causing Enid to continue; "Twice? Three times? Four? Five?" Maud reached for her other hand and opened it fully. "Ten?" Maud then held up both her own hands; "Twenty?" and then started making gestures like she was adding tens upon tens; "You're not serious…"

"I am…" Maud said; "She confessed to me as we went to pick up the pizza. I think she might be in love with Ethel!"

"Alright… Shocking, BUT we actually have to try and find out anyway."

"Why?"

"Ethel found out that Pippa Pentangle herself sent a black mark letter about Geraldine that got delivered only after she was admitted and the contents are missing."

"... Alright, let's go talk to Drusilla." Maud said...

~0~

"So, basically; you're dating Gerry-" Dave said, closing the hood of his truck as Mildred confirmed with a hum. "And she is great and all that, but you really like Ethel despite your past and all of that-" Another hum in confirmation as he passed her a rag to clean her fingers of the grease. "And now that you two almost kissed, and you feel really bad about it."

"Yeah." Millie looked down at her hands; "I feel it's so unfair to do it to Gerry, she has nothing to do with this, she did nothing wrong, I just can't-"

"Hey hey, calm down, I know Mil, I know," Dave turned off the light of the garage and took his daughter inside, sitting on the kitchen table, and rubbing her back; "life is unfair and confusing sometimes."

"What should I do Dad?" Mildred asked, laying her head on her arms.

Dave took a deep breath; "Honestly? I feel that you should break up with Gerry."

"And pursue Ethel?" Millie asked and sighed. "I don't know if she would be into me."

"Maybe she won't, but technically you're already cheating on Gerry, at least emotionally." Dave explained, rolling a combination spanner on his finger. "This is already not fair, love. Not with you, not with Gerry, not even with Ethel, but you're the common thread here, that means it's up to you."

Mildred went silent, staring at her dad, deep frown set in her forehead as she thought about it, as the radio only spoke, announcing ' _Head Over Heels_ ' by _Tears for Fears_ as the song quietly played in the background, bringing a small smile to Dave's face.

"Why are you smiling?" She asked, glad for the opportunity.

"That song was playing the first time I kissed your mother." He explained; "It was during a screening of _Donnie Darko_ , the song was playing in the film."

"Sounds like a good song for that." She smiled and then took a deep breath; "You are right… I'll break up with Gerry, it's only right."

"Aha, that's my girl!" Dave said, rolling the spanner faster. "And of course I am right, I am always right!" he said and just after the spanner escaped his hand, flew up and hit him in the top of her head. "DAMN IT!" He cries out in pain, as Mildred moves quickly to examine the top of his head. "I think that makes my words less credible right? Ouch!"

Millie started healing his head, smiling; "Not at all, dad… Not at all."

~0~

"Hello pretty! Could you get a Fairy Brew without the cream please." Enid said, sitting down at the bar and smiling at Drusilla, who just raised an eyebrow and started to prepare the drink. "Oooh, nice!" Enid said before starting to drink it; "So, how are you doing?"

"I believe we both know what you really want to ask now." Drusilla said, eyebrow still raised; "Why didn't you tell me that Millie was dating Gerry?"

"Does it matter?" Enid asked.

Drusilla shrugged; "Eh, she is not my friend, so not for me, but certainly would have explained your insistence ."

The very thought that Mildred could have been in danger, made all the fear that Enid felt of Drusilla disappear and when she spoke it came out both serious and menacing: "Why? Ok, start talking!"

The bigger witch looked at her and laughed; "I feel so intimidated right now, Nightshade." She went to make another client's drink. "Look, I was friends with Gerry only from the second to the fourth year anyway. I got tired of people like Ethel and her by that point and realized I would rather be alone."

"Do you know anything about an incident in the 5th year? The fog and nightmares." At the mention of nightmares, Drusilla froze for a second; "You do remember, then."

"I heard rumors she had something to do with it, but I didn't think she actually would- Especially not after Pippa took her under her wing."

"Wait, what?"

Before she could get an answer, there was a scream behind them and they turned around to see Sybil with some random wizard holding her arm.

"Hey, let her go!" Maud said, walking towards the confusion when suddenly a flash of light happened and the wizard flew right into the bar.

~0~

They had almost kissed and now all Ethel could do was toss and turn around her bed thinking about it.

Not even an ACTUAL kiss! An ALMOST kiss! She was furious at herself, the more her brain went over it, wishing she had just thrown her arms around Mildred's neck and pulled her down at once, just put an end to that damn suffering, to hell with Gerry and whoever else!

She let out a frustrated grunt and jumped out of her bed, picking up her maglet, writing down hastily; 'Hey Zac, have anyone to go to The Masquerade with? I am free, please respond!'

"There!" She told herself, throwing the damn thing aside, sitting down on the sofa. "Don't you dare look at me like that!" Ethel told Nightstar as the cat gave her the same judgmental look she did when Ethel got home drunk and was loudly singing one of the Narcissa Nightshade songs the singer herself wouldn't allow her daughter to listen to.

To make it all worse, Ethel was sober.

"Hey, Hallow! Here! We need to talk!"

Ethel looked up, at the familiar voice, it was Enid on the mirror. "Nightshade? What do you want?" Ethel got up from the sofa and went to sit in front of the mirror

"Alright, first of all, just so you know; Your little sister is pretty awesome these days." she said, pointing over the shoulder to Sybil sleeping on the sofa behind them. "Some prick tried to grab her and she just, POW, blew him the hell away-"

Ethel almost jumped; "Some WHAT tried to do WHAT? Who? Did he hurt her?" Her voice got low and scary as hell; "What is his name?"

"Oh, wow, WOW THERE!" Enid said, absolutely shocked both by the fact she could ever be scared of Ethel and that she actually cared about Sybil anyway. "Dude's in the hospital, Sybil kicked his arse, it's fine! PLUS, the important thing I have for you is something else." She moved the mirror and showed Maud healing none other than Drusilla Paddock.

"Hey there, Ethel." She said, nonchalant. "I heard you wanted to know about an old friend of mine."

"Whatever you can tell me." Ethel said, seriously.

Maud was done, and Drusilla stood up, taking Enid's place; "Well, let us start; Gerry is more complex than she seems, but the most important thing to know about her is that she'll do what she must to get what she wants, and what she wants above all else are power and knowledge and she is willing to take it from any source and I was there in her first attempt…" She paused and swallowed, a cold sweat taking over her brow; "To rip open the veil to commune with witches on the other side. More specifically; The Wicked Five Of Eastwick."

(tbc)


	8. Sleight of Hand

**Chapter 8 - Sleight of Hand**

"Stars fading but I linger on dear, still craving your kiss, I'm longing to linger till dawn dear, just saying this…"

Mildred's eyes slowly opened as the sun washed into her dad's living room. Tabby was sleeping peacefully on her chest, her hand going to caresses him gently when she heard her father's voice in the kitchen, beautifully singing 'Dream a Little Dream Of Me' without a care in the world and a small smile crept onto her lips as she stretched, having slept well for the first time in a long time.

Yeah, she dreamed of Ethel, running her hand over her back and over her hair, putting their foreheads together and looking into her eyes up close, before slowly moving into kissing.

It was pretty amazing.

"Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you, sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you, but in your dreams whatever they be… Dream a little dream of me."

She heard her father sing more and chuckled as she gently moved Tabby from her chest and sat up, stretching one last time before going to the kitchen, seeing her father in a pink robe making some beans on toast for her.

"Ah, there you are Mil! Did my crooning wake you up?" He asked sheepishly; "I am sorry."

"Don't worry, it's a great way to wake up. I love your voice Dad and I am shocked all of your shows don't sell out." She said and sat on the chair as her dad laughed.

"That's not how the show works. I am not good enough to main line anything!" Dave explained, still feeling a little proud that she even thought of it and happy she didn't seem even a little bothered by his hobby, a big fear he had when Julie told him they had a child together and put Millie's food on a plate.

Tabby hopped up onto her lap and reached for the beans, and would have pouted if he could as Millie held him back;

"No, Tabby! You know beans are not good for you," She said and put him down "they make you all gassy..."

"There you go little mate, I have this cat food saved just for you." Dave said and placed a little saucer with cat food on the floor for him.

Millie sipped her tea; "There you go, that must enough to tide you over on the way back."

Dave looked at her very sadly and asked, in a disappointed tone; "Aw, you're already leaving? I was hoping you would stay a little longer, so I could show you more of my 80s fantasy movie collection. We have 'Willow' up next! 'Beastmaster' would be after that! Still can't find that movie with Fairuza Balk as a witch in boarding school… It's like it dropped out of the face of the Earth and I thought you would love it."

"Sorry Dad, I sent a message to Gerry already, I wanna talk to her today if I can." Millie explained and took a bite from her toast, remembering the last movie they watched together; "And honestly, I am still a bit freaked out over how much Esmeralda Hallow and her boyfriend look like Princess Buttercup and Wesley, that was uncanny."

"How are you going to do it?" Dave asked while he picked up some orange juice and the coffee pot, putting them both on the table before taking his own seat.

"I'm going to take her for a coffee, have a talk, say we can still be friends and end it… And pay for it, of course."

"That's how your mother and I broke up." Dave said, thoughtful; "It was mutually agreed, but I still cried on the way home because the radio started playing 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' by Joy Division… Another song from Donnie Darko now that I think about it." He shrugged and joked; "I guess it was more present during our relationship than I imagined."

Millie snorted with laughter; "Alright Dad, I better get going, it's an hour drive and I hope to take a shower at home before going to meet her."

"Yes, yes, sure." He said, and looked around, picking up the spanner, that was still in the kitchen, he'd hit himself in the head with "Here, take this."

She raised an eyebrow; "Why?"

"Just a bit of good luck from your old man! Trust me!" He grinned and, despite it not making sense, Mildred just nodded and put the spanner in her jacket pocket.

~0~

" _It split apart, right down the middle and- I saw shadows, five shadows, they came forward, but something went wrong. I… I felt this powerful wind, it sucked them back into the shadows, and it was doing the same with Gerry and I, but I held onto the closest column and I pulled Gerry, gave her time to undo the spell, and that closed it." Drusilla was shaking slightly, pale because even, after all this time, the memory shook her to her core; "We were both… Terrified after it. We went back to our rooms in silence."_

" _What happened then?" Ethel asked, as Maud placed a comforting hand on Drusilla's shoulder._

" _Well, she owed me her life, bounded to do so by magic, so the only thing I asked her was to stay away from me… I was 15, I was scared, it was all I could think." She looked down, wishing she had made Gerry promise to stop it altogether , wanting to justify herself; "I thought she had stopped after that… I am afraid she may not have…"_

Ethel transferred to the entrance of the Hallow library; the giant double doors that didn't appear to have any apparent way to be opened; adorned in an elaborate thorn motif barring anyone from entry, the biggest pointing outwards beckoning her closer. She approached the door and took a deep breath before extending her finger and pricked it on the thorn, the single drop of blood sucked in as fast as it formed. With her offering, the thorns started to clear and let the double doors open.

She held her finger to her mouth, sucking on it to clot the pin prick wound. Usually Ethel hated coming to the Hallow library alone precisely because of that method of opening, at least with Esmie or Syb, she could have someone else's finger to sacrifice, but this time around her mind was more concentrated on getting the book she needed and leaving before her parents even knew she was in the manor, since she was usually deterred by the grizzly method of opening.

Striding forwards, she quickly reached the alchemy section and started looking for the book, desperate to know what the 'Seal of the Titans' did and what it was used for, especially now she knows there was something more sinister to Gerry than she expected.

Of all the things a witch shouldn't mess with was the Veil, let alone ripping it apart and trying to communicate with the dead. Ethel was by no means surprised that Drusilla and Geraldine almost died while doing it, they were lucky because had they fallen beyond it, if they ever even came back, they would never be the same.

Ethel frowned, deciding it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a book about the Veil at hand as well, maybe something on the Wicked Five, preferably something in depth-

"Ethel!" A clipped voice said from behind her; "Well met..."

'Oh, fuck...' Ethel thought before turning around slowly and forcing a smile to the witch saluting her; "Mother, well met," She said and repeated the gesture back at her; "How great to see you. I didn't expect to see you in the library so early."

Ursula frowned slightly, her eyes showing her mistrust at Ethel's words , but predominantly it was disgust at the realization her daughter now had the same forced smile on her face as she did whenever she saw her mother; "I wasn't expecting to see you at all, since you didn't send any forewarning." She said and placed both hands on her waist.

Ethel feigned surprise; "Well, you said I could come here to research whenever I wanted Mother, have you changed your mind?"

Ursula narrowed her eyes, starting to feel cross and gave Ethel a look that would have easily intimidated her two or three years ago; "Of course not, however, I expect my daughters to show me more respect than to just turn up unannounced."

"I assumed you would be out with one of your friends or sleeping. It's saturday morning after all, usually it's only father that is home and he does not seem to care as much." Ethel said and raised her chin fearlessly. "I am sorry Mother, I didn't mean to offend or slight you. I just needed a few books." Ethel held them up, very glad the one about 'The Wicked Five' was at the front since explaining her sudden interest in alchemy would had been a little harder.

Ursula paled slightly as she read the cover of the top book, making her daughter look at her in confusion; "The Wicked Five? That's a sudden interest." Ursula said, raising her own chin in response.

Ethel felt anger come over her at that look, how pale her mother turned and she couldn't help but make assumptions of what her mother thought the nature of her interest was; "Yes!" Ethel said, more harshly than she intended, but managed to even out her voice and clear her throat; "They killed themselves with their deeds, but the judgement of their accomplices and investigation of their crimes was pivotal for Code law and the reformation that came right after it."

"Oh, of course." Ursula said, still a little pale. "How are your studies coming along?"

"I believe you have direct access to my report card. Since my allowance haven't gone down the last few months, I assume you know I am doing perfectly."

Ursula forced the corners of her mouth upwards in a faux smile; "Yes, and one would think your allowance would be more than enough, yet you decided to rent your extra room."

"You said I could." Ethel said defensively, frowning slightly, before going back to her controlled expression.

"Yes, but I was expecting someone more respectable." Ursula's eyes flashed in anger; "Most certainly not the girl who has dragged our name through the mud."

"She didn't! We did! Us and our ancestors were the ones who did that, it's about time we start accepting that!" Ethel shot back before she could stop herself and never had she seen her mother more shocked than she looked at that moment. "I better go!" She said quickly, before her mother's shock could turn into anger and started walking away, briskly to reach somewhere she could transfer away.

When she reached it, the very last words she heard from her mother were; "Ethel, how dare-" before she transferred back into the apartment.

Ethel sighed with relief and put the books on top of kitchen table, flopping down onto a chair, and Nightstar, feeling her witch was tense, comes in and sits on her lap, Ethel petting her behind her ears; "I hope she doesn't follow me here, Nighty…" she whispers, before sitting upright. "Now, let's take a look at those books..."

~0~

Sybil let out a long painful groan and was immediately greeted by someone putting a foul smelling potion in front of her; "Oh god, no…" She whispered with disgust.

"It's good for you kid, trust me. Down the whole thing quickly and you won't even feel it." Drusilla said; "Unless you would prefer a nasty hangover instead."

Sybil weighed her options for a moment, before doing as Drusilla suggested and drank it in one go causing the bigger woman to chuckle; "Atta girl…" Drusilla said and pulled out a stick of gum; "Here, to help with the tas-" She trailed off as Sybil took it from her right away and chewed it enthusiastically.

In the kitchen, Enid and Maud were preparing breakfast and talking, well, Maud was preparing breakfast;

"We should go see Mildred." Maud said. "Urgh, I can't believe her talk about being in love with Millie! That viper, I'll-" she spat, ringing a towel in her hand before stopping and going back to the frying pan; "We have to tell Mildred!"

"Well, we tried calling her in her dad's full length mirror, but she wasn't there. All we can do is wait for her to come back." Enid said while rolling up a pancake with a piece of bacon in the middle and drizzled syrup all over it before taking a bite. "Or, we could call her in her motorcycle mirror!"

Maud raised an eyebrow and asked with exaggerated sarcasm; "Do you WANT our best friend to be intimately acquainted with the back-side of a truck?"

"Good point..." Enid said, reaching for another pancake when Maud slapped her hand with a skillet.

"Food is almost ready!" She said and moved the pancakes away.

"Sorry, mum!" Enid pouted and crossed her arms.

"You two are like an old married couple." Drusilla remarked as she entered the kitchen. "I gave Sybil an anti-hangover potion, she's better, but still in no state to fly or transfer home, so she is calling a friend to come and pick her up." Maud nodded back at her and Drusilla looked at the floor, a little embarrassed; "I would like to apologize for not talking to your earlier, Nightshade, I had no idea that was the reason you were talking to me."

"Hey, it's fine. I was kinda mean to you at Cackles. Always treated you like you were just Ethel's lackey-"

"And I was." Drusilla admitted; "One would think I couldn't do worse than Ethel and yet…" She leaned against the table, crossing her arms; "You know, there was a part of me that hoped that Gerry would have gotten better, done better. Despite everything I said she was-" She paused, searching for the right word. "likable. Everybody liked her and she even taught me how to open up more." She tensed up a little; "I guess, after what happened, I kept a distance from most people."

"Yeah, it's understandable." Maud put a plate on the table for her. "Here, come eat something."

"I am not hungry…" Drusilla waved it off. "I always thought she had left all of that behind her, then the incident in the 5th year happened. I tried to pretend that she had nothing to do with it, I hoped for it and all this time I thought she was at least on the right track."

Maud stopped in her tracks; "Wait, yeah! You said something about Miss Pentangle taking her under her wing…"

Drusilla nodded: "Yes, in the last year."

"But that stopped after the incident right?" Enid asked.

"Not really… At least not apparently to the rest of the students." Drusilla said and stood up. "I better go back to my dorm before my familiar shows up meowing his head off because I didn't feed him." She looked at them; "Look, if you need anything, just ask me, alright?"

Both Enid and Maud nodded and said goodbye to Drusilla, before Maud gave her friend a suspicious look;

"This doesn't quite add up does it?"

Enid was looking at the living room, as Drusilla said goodbye to Sybil before leaving; "I don't think it will, she doesn't seem to be Sybil's type, though I might be wrong… Still, she better not use the girl as a consolation prize for her sister, that would be just-"

Maud looked at her with a surprised expression until she cut her; "What? No! I mean… You don't even know if she is gay!"

"Oh, she always had been, Maud." Enid rolled her eyes. "You're the one who wouldn't know, you don't have a working gaydar! You thought Miss Hardbroom was straight up until the fourth year and was literally the only person surprised by Mildred coming out."

"I am a straight girl! I don't have a gaydar alright! All I would have is stereotyping people, and if I did I would have 100% assumed that Drusilla is gay." She paused; "I thought Miss Drill was gay too for sometime."

Sybil crawled off the sofa slowly and started moving towards the kitchen.

"Oh, no way! Didn't you ever see how she looked at my dad? That was real thirst, my friend."

Maud grimaced; "Jesus, Enid! Doesn't that bother you?"

Enid shrugged; "Mum and dad are very much in love and a lot of women look at him like that. At least she wasn't like Mrs. Hallow who would full on stare at his arse and give him a that little pervy smile." She took a swig of orange juice. "But then again, I guess I would be thirsty too if I was married to Mr. Moustache."

Hearing that was enough to make Sybil turn back around to go sleep on the sofa again.

"Look, I had no way to-" Maud shook her head to clear her thoughts; "Damn it, this is not what I am talking about! I meant Pippa Pentangle taking Gerry under her wing!"

"Oh… Maybe an attempt at keeping her out of trouble?" Enid suggested and smiled a little, looking weirdly timid; "I know that was part of the reason that Mildred and you stuck to me."

Maud walked and put her arm around her shoulder; "Nah, we stuck to you because of the awesome care packages your parents sent. That's it, food. The only good reason." She grinned, teasing her friend. "Seriously though, I wonder if there is more to this whole story with Gerry than we know."

"Maybe, but that won't change the fact that she literally tried to break through the Veil to talk to a bunch of evil witches… Not even witches that live according to the whole free-spirit ideal, evil, in a non hyperbolic way, witches!"

"I know, I know!" Maud finished the breakfast. "I'll investigate this further anyway."

"That's fine and good meanwhile I- Will call Sybil." She winked and left the kitchen.

~0~

Gerry was sitting in the coffee shop, waiting for Mildred, already with a cup of hot cocoa and already suspecting what this meeting was about from that message - it threw a spanner into her plans, but she would figure it out.

As Millie walked into the coffee shop and gave her that gorgeous smile Gerry could not deny how much she loved that smile. Gerry waved back at her, smiling and stood up to pull out her chair as she reached the table.

"Hello, love!" Gerry said kissing her cheek and Mildred couldn't help but blush, knowing that would be a difficult conversation. "What do you want to eat? If you're not hungry, the hot cocoa is especially good today." She smiled.

"I ate my dad's before coming." Millie said, but in truth, her stomach was way too jumpy for her to eat anything; "We need to talk." She started.

"Yeah, I can imagine what it is." Gerry leaned forwards: "I knew it wouldn't last much longer you know."

"I am sorry, Gerry." Mildred said, unable to look at her.

"Is it Ethel?"

"No, it's me." Millie admitted. "How I feel is on me, but I can't go on feeling like this about someone else while I date you."

"Do you love her?" Gerry asked while leaning her chin on her fist and looked at Millie as she blushed deeply, clearly thinking about the question.

Mildred's mind went through the rolodex of their moments together; the Ethel she knew at Cackles, the one she knew now, how they laughed and cried and lived together and slowly grew into friends and how much everything had changed, and how much they had changed, specially Ethel, until she no longer could deny it;

"Yes." it felt like a weight was lifted.

Gerry stood up and pulled Mildred up by her collar and then proceeded to give her the deepest, hottest, most breathtaking, frenchiest kiss that Mildred ever been given in her life, until she pulled back suddenly.

"And that's how you say goodbye." Gerry chirped and winked, looking Millie in the eyes as she put her hands in her pockets and left.

"Bye..." Millie said breathless, more surprised than anything.

She fell back onto her chair, trying to recover her breath and think what to do next, well, aside from going home and telling Ethel everything with the hope she felt the same.

~0~

 _...Usually constructed of tin to due to its connection to the planet Jupiter, 'The Seal of the Titans', also known as the 'The Unbreakable Seal' is as powerful as it is rare. Inspired by the titans that got locked away by Zeus in the Tartarus, it's used to contain powerful magical energies and despite being able to be broken, the full instructions for that however, are a well kept secret and necessitate a coven of at least five to perform._

'Well, there's at least that.' Ethel thought to herself, closing the book and putting it aside. "Whatever she wants, she can't get to it." She told Nightstar with some measure of relief however, Fern still had Millie, and Ethel still doubted that Millie would listen to her, so her hopes relied on Enid and Maud coming forward to tell her what Drusilla told them.

Still, after her little outburst, Ethel found that her feelings were running away from her. In the back of her mind, she all, but begged Mildred to kiss her, she almost pulled her then and there and kissed her herself, she almost sent it all to hell for the chance that maybe Mildred wanted it as much as she did.

She rubbed her forehead, a witch is supposed to be in perfect control of her feelings, a witch was not supposed to fall to those thoughts and desires or be impulsive… Not that Ethel wasn't already, she had been so most of her life, but wasn't that at least part of the reason why she got into so much trouble? Wasn't that why she ended up with a black mark anyway?

Ethel wanted Mildred, she wanted her so badly, but wasn't it was precisely wanting her to that level which usually got her into trouble? Respect, consideration from her mother, to leave her sister's shadow, those where all things she seeked before, all things she wanted.

"I need to put some distance between us, Nightstar…" She told her familiar, whose response was giving her a judgemental look and turn her back on her.

"I take it you disagree?" Ethel asked with surprise and sighed. "Just until she breaks up with Gerry, which will be soon, I hope." She frowned; "As soon as they tell her everything."

Nightstar huffed at her.

"I can't wait for her, she is not coming for me. Plus… I already have a costume." She pulled a picture up in her Maglet, turning it around to show Nightstar; "Its Astrid Hallow. She came to England in a viking boat and led a powerful coven when she got here. One of the few Hallows I couldn't find anything bad about. Plus, I'll look great in a medieval dress." She grinned.

Nightstar hesitantly agreed, but still looked her with judgement clear in her eyes.

Ethel frowned and grumbled; "You're no help."

Nightstar rolled her eyes.

~0~

"Hey Charlie! Get me half a dozen chocolate croissants and, uh… Is your uncle's flower shop open?" Millie asked while smiling and blushing.

Charlie moved to pick up her order and put it in a box; "I don't know Millie. Probably?"

"'Blossom and Bloom' is open." Said a tired voice from behind them, it was Nick, a guy from the same course as Gerry, who was also minoring in Witchory. "I know, because I just had to place a ridiculously big order and dear Charlie's uncle is getting it ready for me now." He took a seat at the bar. "Get me the hottest, strongest, coffee you have Charlie, no sugar." He said and pulled a cigarette from his pocket.

"Nick, you know you can't smoke here." Charlie said giving Millie, who was laughing, her order. She was way too used to that discussion.

"I am not going to light it." Nick denied while still pulling out a zippo and playing with it between his fingers.

"Gee, Charlie, it's just a metaphor." Millie teased, and all three snickered.

"At least I don't vape." Nick said and then added in a flirty tone; "You look chipper today, Hubble."

"You must certainly don't, Hobbes." She responded, still smiling.

Nick let out a very dramatic long sigh of suffering; "It's the damn ball. The whole department is ridiculously involved and excited for it. People can't shut up about their costumes, their dates, their ancestors that did great things for the witch community, nobody can do any work around here." He huffed; "And the people coming in from other departments are the worst! Today we had Hawthorne helping with the decorating."

"Zac?" Mildred looked at him. "He is in Code Law, why was he helping?"

Nick shrugged; "I don't know." He raised his eyebrows, a little annoyed; "He wouldn't shut up about dressing up as Gabriel Hawthorne who joined the army to fight against Napoleon and helped enforcing the blizzard that helped defeat him, humf" He grumbled and lit his cigarette; "as if nature wasn't going to do it on her own and he wouldn't shut up about Hallow inviting him to go with her either, what a- HEY!" He stopped when Charlie took his cigarette and snuffed it.

Charlie frowned at him; "What did I say? No smoking here!"

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot! Forgive me, babe."

"Yeah yeah, as soon as you fuck up it's all 'babe this' and 'babe that'!" Charlie grinned; "You never value me in the day to day."

Nick pouted; "Am I in the dog house tonight?"

"You bet, sir!" Charlie tried to sound angry, but his grin only widen.

"Woe is me…" Said Nick, as he turned to Mildred, who wasn't there anymore; "Hey, Hubble" he lifted his head, seeing her paying for the croissants with the cashier; "Wait there! I'll have to go back to 'Blossom and Bloom', I can go with you."

"No…" Said Millie while looking up, the mirth gone from her face. "That won't be necessary." She forced a smile; "But thank you Nick, Charlie! See you blokes later!" She said and left the bakery, suddenly feeling much sadder than she was when she got in.

Feeling hopeless and helpless Millie really didn't want to go back to the apartment or see Ethel again, not knowing if she could after admitting her own feelings to herself earlier. How could she see her face and live with her while those feelings were still inside of her, acknowledged and burning brightly, and making Millie wish for nothing more than to kiss her?

She would have to figure it out later, she couldn't think right now and she could see in Tabby's face, he wanted to see Nightstar again.

"Don't worry, we're going home…" She said, petting her familiar and got on her motorcycle.

~0~

Gerry got back to her own apartment, feeling rather sad, having not expected to feel this way and yet, there she was, already missing Mildred; her smile, her voice, her gentleness, her sense of humor. She really felt she could have loved her, but by Morgana, weren't there things more important than that feelings? Family, legacy, ancestry? Wasn't the future more important than all of those things? To leave your own mark!

"She broke up with me, you know..." Gerry said to Rowena, her raven familiar, who gave her a disapproving look; "Don't look at me like that, we were very lucky I am very good at a sleight of hands. After all, I was always a witch, but I always always like being;" and to demonstrate she was revealed to Rowena that she had taken Mildred's catalyst stone. "A magician!" She smiled openly, but it soon faded.

Rowena flew and perched herself on Gerry's shoulder, gently nuzzling her head.

"It's alright, I knew it wouldn't last, but we have everything we need now. This little stone shares Mildred's magic it means it can do what she can do." Gerry looked at her familiar; "Now, you just need to do your part." She kissed the raven on the head, before opening the window for her. "Be ready and wait for my signal. It will all happen today."

The raven nodded and flew away, ready to do her part.

(tbc)


	9. In The Works

**Chapter 9 - In the Works**

When Mildred arrived home she cautiously poked her head into the apartment to check if the coast was clear and upon hearing the telltale sounds of Ethel in the shower, singing one song or another, she opened the door fully. Before she could even properly enter the apartment, Tabby sprang free of her jacket and ran to rub against Nightstar, licking her head and cuddling against her, which she welcomed.

"I guess someone had to be happy in love here." Millie whispered, moving to lie on the sofa, suddenly feeling very tired and placed one hand behind her head, staring at the ceiling, wondering what was to come.

 _We are born with two legs, two arms, two ears, two eyes, but only one heart, because we're supposed to find the other one…_

'In the place you least expect as well…' Mildred thought, crossing her legs at her ankles, wondering if she wasn't being dramatic and exaggerating a simple attraction when suddenly a sharp pain came to her heart, like it was being run through, and she screamed, tumbling off the sofa as she clutched her chest, a cold sweat breaking out on her brow.

Ethel was standing under the hot stream of the shower, trying to relax, when she heard Mildred's piercing scream through the quiet apartment which caused her heart to drop to the pit of her stomach. "Mildred?" She called worriedly, coming out of the shower and throwing on her bathrobe hurriedly; "Millie?" She repeated and ran to the living room, horrified to find Mildred on the floor, doubled over and breathing hard. Ethel suddenly feeling a pain in her own chest as well at the sight before her but ignored it to run to Mildred and help her up.

It was a strange sensation for Mildred to go from the cold floor of the apartment to the heat of Ethel's robe covered body and she clung to it, holding her close, desperate for some of her warmth.

"What's wrong?" The blonde asked worriedly.

"I don't know..." Mildred replied, her teeth chattering. "So cold-" She added helplessly "My chest hurts…"

"Come on!" Ethel encouraged as she pushed aside the worry growing inside herself and hoisted Mildred up, while the other witch clutched tightly to her; "Come to my room, my bed is more comfortable."

Millie was doing the best she could but still found moving her legs difficult, so Ethel had to do most of the work to get them to her room until both women collapsed onto the bed. The blonde tried to stand up but Mildred was insistent on remaining attached to her, desperate for the warmth as the sharp pain in her heart slowly got better with the contact.

"Stay, please…" She whispered feverishly. "This is helping…"

"Alright then." Ethel said soothingly and put her arms around her. "I am right here okay? Don't worry." She reassured the trembling woman and started rubbing her back, trying to soothe her at least for now, Ethel's mind trying to think of ways to get out to get help, the first thing that came mind was to mirror Esmie and so she started reaching for the mirror on her bedside table.

They both perked up as they heard a commotion in the living room; their familiars hissing, the flapping of wings followed by the pained hiss of a cat and a small thud.

"The cats." Mildred said and tried to sit up, but Ethel shoved her back down and pulled the duvet over her. "Stay here!" She ordered and then ran to the living room to find the place a mess; raven feathers were everywhere, a few on Tabby's mouth, that he spat before running to a corner of the room - where Nightstar was lying motionless.

"No…" Ethel whispered, feeling tears come to her eyes as she rushed over to her familiar, picking her up carefully and feeling a crushing wave of relief wash over her as she saw Nightstar was still breathing. "Oh, thank Morgana, you're alright." She breathed and looked around at the mess; "What happened here?" She asked and turned her head as she heard footsteps behind her; "Mildred! Go back to bed!"

"Raven feathers?" Millie asked, ignoring Ethel's orders, and picked them up.

Ethel then noticed the paper was missing; "Let me guess… Geraldine's familiar was a raven."

Mildred started standing up straight; "You don't think-"

"No, I am certain of it." Ethel said determined. "You're feeling better, aren't you?" She added with a trace of worry, despite still sounding cross.

Millie looked surprised; "Yes, actually." She said and touched her chest, as if to reassure herself that the pain was gone… And so was something else. "Fuck, I think I dropped my catalyst stone somewhere."

"You saw her before you came home, right?" Ethel asked while still looking very angry with Nightstar cradled in her arms. ; "So that's how she did it."

"What are you talking about." Mildred asked with a frown.

"Call Enid and Maud, ask them about her your girlfriend, they'll explain. I need to go get dressed and make a localization spell, whatever she is up to isn't good!"

"What-?"

"Call them!" Ethel barked and then walked into her room.

~0~

When Julie Hubble received the message from Dave informing her that Millie was about to break up with her girlfriend, something inside Julie told her to go see her daughter because she would need her mother soon. So naturally she decided to do just that, now walking down from the train station and checking the address of Ethel's apartment on her smartphone.

Julie was nervous. Millie had told her that only witches could even see the button of the thirteenth floor, and even after all these years of magic, Julie still couldn't find herself comprehending that she was, actually, a witch; one without powers, knowledge or even a desire to learn more than she would have to to make sure her daughter was treated well, but a witch, nonetheless.

Dave hadn't given her any details but Julie knew instinctively.

She stepped up to the curb and waved for a cab at the same time as a platinum blonde woman besides her, the two women looking at each other for a second in surprise before they realized they had met before.

"Mistress Hubble." Ursula Hallow said while lifting her chin.

"Mrs Hallow." Julie replied, smacking her lips together and smiled; "It's been a long time. Are you here to visit your daughter?"

"Oh… I might, but actually I am here on business." Ursula lied. "You're here to visit your daughter, uh…?" She trailed off, as though she'd forgotten.

Julie's eyes narrowed slightly; "Mildred." She said and then face relaxed a little; "I expected you would know, since they are sharing an apartment now."

"Oh, so that's who is renting the extra room in Ethel's apartment." Ursula said with emphasis on 'renting' and 'Ethel's' with such force that Julie couldn't help but smile, holding back laughter.

"Yes, that's her." Julie said with a little bit of sarcasm, and enjoyed the surprised expression on Ursula's face as a cab stopped right in front of them and Julie moved to open the door for her; "Go on, I'll catch the next one."

Ursula paused, clearly taken aback, but once again raised her chin and stepped into the cab; "Thank you!" She said briskly and then ordered the cabby to drive.

Julie watched the cab drive off thinking about what a piece of work that woman was in the past and still clearly is.

'If Ethel has really changed, it must have involved being away from her for a long time.' She thought to herself, a little more catty than usual.

~0~

Ethel was brewing the localization spell her face hard with concentration, as she did her best to block out Mildred as she spoke to her friends.

Mildred sat with her head on her hand, eyes wide open as her brain tried to process everything that had happened. The pain in her chest and cold fever were gone and she could now move around with no problem, but that didn't reassure her since she could only assume where the symptoms came from. With her catalyst stone in the other witch's control, Millie was completely at Gerry's mercy, and messing with her body temperature and physical sensations was child's play when she could do much worse.

"We're sorry, Millie." Enid said.

Maud nodded; "We had to find out, for your own good, you're-"

"I know, I know, thank you!" Millie reassured them as she stood up and started pacing, brow set in determination. "Ethel, we have to find her."

"I am working on it, Hubble!" Ethel said in a rather clipped tone, eyes lingering briefly on Tabby grooming Nightstar lovingly. She pulled out a map of the city and put the potion inside a pendant, letting it dangle over the map as she evoked the spell. The pendant glowed and moved around, but didn't pinpoint the target. "Nothing…" Ethel said, making the assembled women groan.

The blonde huffed, frustrated, and with a gesture made the contents of her cauldron disappear as she started to brew another potion without another word to the other witches.

"Don't you have her raven's feathers, can't you try-"

"I tried on the feathers! If she had enough foresight to make those untraceable, she certainly put it on herself as well." Ethel reasoned.

"Well, that's a dead end." Maud said and tried to think of other things they could do.

"Why did she needed your drawing is the one part I don't get?" Enid asked with confusion.

"I don't know! Nowhere does it say how to break the seal." Millie replied and bit her thumb nervously.

"Well, that's good, that's very good! It means that we don't have to worry about that at least!" Maud added.

Ethel's head snapped upwards and she looked at Mildred; "She doesn't need to break the seal!" She said vocalising her epiphany. "She has your power through the catalyst stone and a drawing from your hand, she can literally just erase it using your ability to draw things and make them into reality."

"How can you be so sure?" Enid asked, looking at Ethel.

"Logic? It's literally the only thing that would explain her needing Mildred's drawing." Ethel replied, sarcastically and went back to her brewing. "Unless you can't erase things through your magic." She said and looked at Mildred hopefully.

"I can actually!" Mildred cried out and rubbed her forehead, enticing a second frustrated groan from all those present.

"Aren't there wards to stop that?" Maud asked "You shouldn't be able to just erase something like that!"

"Probably not. My powers are too rare, not really something they prepare for regularly!" Mildred said but then something came to her and caused her to smile.

"Why are you smiling?" Ethel asked incredulously.

"Because now we know for sure where she is! She has to have gone to the catacombs she showed me, going after whatever is under the seal!"

"Oh, logic!" Enid echoed Ethel, ironically.

Ethel huffed; "Either way, we are going as soon as I finish this!"

"Why? We can go now and just-" The doorbell rang suddenly, cutting her off. "Did you- Ask for food delivery?"

Ethel shook her head and frowned.

~0~

Ursula was sitting at her favorite little bakery in town, the same one she used to visit when she studied at Weirdsisters' herself. Of all the daughters to follow in her footsteps in that sense she had expected it to be Esmie, and yet, there was Ethel; living in the apartment she once lived in, studying the course that Ursula actually wanted to, but couldn't due to family duty and attending the college where Ursula had met her daughter's father .

A small smile came to her lips as she remembered how gorgeous Ulisses was back then, but only for a second as she realized something - just how much he had been comparing her to Ethel lately.

Ursula huffed, fully blaming her mother for that… Well, it was true in some aspects, but Ethel knew nothing of the crushing responsibility of being the eldest, of carrying a legacy on your shoulders, like she had to, like Esmie would have to.

In the back of her mind something reminded her that Ethel also shared her strength and intolerance to being even slightly slighted, which some people would call pettiness, but she knew, her daughter and her would know that it was just a necessity, or else people would walk all over you.

She took a sip from her coffee, pondering if she really should go see her daughter or if she was just listening to her mother, as she shouldn't really.

"Here Charlie, as I promised." A young man with flowing black hair told the other young man, Charlie presumably, behind the counter.

"Thanks, Nick." Charlie replied. "Did you see Millie in the flower shop?"

"Nope, she wasn't there. I think she changed her mind." Nick sighed feeling a little bad, without knowing why. "Why do you think she was upset like that?"

"Well, there is a little rumor going around." Charlie said conspiratorially and then said more quietly; "Apparently, Millie has a little crush on Miss Hallow." The tanned young man winked and Ursula's eyes went wide. "She probably wasn't happy that Ethel is going with Zac to the masquerade."

Nick rolled his eyes. "That's ridiculous! Millie has a girlfriend. One far hotter than Hallow."

"Well, you might think that, but Millie doesn't. Cass Crowfeather saw Millie and Gerry at the Cafe and Millie was breaking up with her apparently. It was amicable, from what she said."

Nick looked shocked; "OH MY-" suddenly he smiled "So Gerry is free then?"

"Yup!" Charlie said with some disdain. "Honestly, I would be more interested in Millie being single, but you know, she isn't into guys so what can I do?"

"Oh the ocean is full of mermaids and tritons alike, and it doesn't make a difference for you from what I heard." Nick said with an impish grin. "Do you think Millie was going to buy those flowers for, Ethel?"

"Maybe." Charlie replied and shrugged.

Nick's grin widened as he added flippantly; "Like you need flowers to get into Ethel Hallow's pants."

Ursula suddenly choked on her coffee and started spluttering.

"Ma'am?" Charlie asked with concern, pausing to give Nick a censuring look and moved to see how Ursula was, lithely jumping over the counter and gently tapping on her back.

"I am not saying I am any better!" Nick justified himself, ignoring Charlie's look. "It's college, we are all just trying to have fun here." He said offhandedly and poured Ursula a glass of water; "Here you go ma'am."

Ursula looked up at him and Nick actually took a step back at the withering glare sent his way. "Thank you, young man." She said with contempt, broken by a small cough, as she quickly drank the offered water and walked to the cashier to pay.

"You know her?" Charlie asked, looking at Nick who's eyes had widened and his skin turned white with horror.

Nick slowly nodded; "I am pretty sure that's Ursula Hallow…" he whispered as the blonde woman paid for her coffee and transferred away.

"HA!" Charlie let out a laugh. "You're dead!"

~0~

Ethel raised an eyebrow and pulled Mildred back behind her to protect the girl, shifting her body into a dueling stance before casting a spell to make the door before them transparent with her off hand, the other ready to attack with the other. Fortunately, what she saw on the other side was a very surprised Julie Hubble, the young Hallow jumping back at the same time as the woman on the other side of the door.

Ethel removed the spell just as quickly. "It's your mum!"

"I saw that!" Mildred said and then whispered to Ethel. "We can't let her know what is going on."

The blonde woman nodded and ran to stand in front of the mirror; "We'll call you guys later!" And then with one gesture "Vanished be!" followed by the spell that made everything else, aside from the caudron to just go to her room as Millie walked towards the door, wearing her best smile.

"MUM!" She said with honest joy as she opened the door and pulled her mother into a hug, as Ethel put the potion into a small bottle. "I wasn't expecting you! It's great to see you!" And despite the situation, Mildred meant every word.

"Hello love!' Julie replied with a warm smile as she hugged her daughter back. "For a second there I thought you wouldn't like to see me." She joked while rubbing Millie's back as the elder Hubble pulled back from the hug. "Ethel hello, how are you?"

"Well met!" Ethel said, saluting her as a witch. "I am perfectly fine, ma'am! Shame you caught us just as we were about to go out to see something at the college. Right Mildred?" She nods, looking pointedly at Mildred.

Mildred nods in synch with Ethel; "Yup! Ethel and I have to go now Mum. We'll be back soon, promise!" She said and stops for a second, remembering something very important, and hugged her mother tightly; "I love you! We'll be right back!" She takes a hold of Ethel's hand and pulled her towards the door.

Julie raised an eyebrow; "Alright…"

"Make yourself at home, Mistress Hubble!" Ethel said, trying to sound kind, but coming out a awkward, since what she was trying to didn't come naturally as Mildred and her closed the door. "Bye!" She turned to Mildred outside.

"Lets go." Ethel whispered once they were out of earshot.

"Wait!" Mildred whispered back; "We have to do something! We can't just leave my mother alone at my apartment! What if Gerry escapes and comes here for some reason?"

Ethel nodded; "You're right, let's cast a locking spell. No one with magic can come in or out once it's cast, so your mother will be able to leave and won't get suspicious. If we do it together, should be strong enough to last a few hours and only one of us would be able to removed it."

Millie nodded in agreement and both witches stood side by side, saying the incantation and cast the spell, not hearing the sound of someone transfering into the apartment mere seconds before the spell was completed.

"That should do it." Millie said as both got into the elevator.

~0~

Julie Hubble was staring in shock at the familiar short haired blonde who had just appeared in front of her. "Mrs. Hallow..." She said with a sardonic smile on her face. "Great to see you again. Decided to visit Ethel after all, right?"

"Yes, my- business turned out to be rather short." Ursula replied glibly and looked around the apartment. "Ethel isn't home I see."

"And neither is Millie, they said they had some thing to do at college and would be back in a few hours." Julie explained and Ursula nodded in lieu of a reply, sitting down on one of the kitchen chairs, both women looking everywhere but each other.

"Would you like some tea?" Julie offered after a few uncomfortable minutes of silence, standing up and going into the kitchen to look for it..

"Sure, sounds good." Ursula replied, still sitting stiffly on her chair.

Nightstar and Tabby exchanged a look, turning their gazes to Ursula and Julie in turn, and the two cats would have smiled, if they could, but instead Tabby just went to their secret hiding place and got a rather special blend, bringing it to Julie.

"Ah, thanks Tabby. Such a good boy." She said and scratched behind his ear, getting the tea box he brought to her, as he exchanged a complicitous look with Nightstar.

~0~

"We need a plan. Maybe transfer to the school and-" Ethel started before Mildred interrupted her.

"No. We wouldn't be able to transfer right into that room, you can't do that in the catacombs" Millie explained, leaving out that it was Gerry who had given her that information when she tried to do exactly that, "and Gerry is being careful, if she put wards so we can't locate her bird, she must have some sort of trap if we use magic to approach her. We'll just alert her to our presence."

"You're right, but what did you have in mind?" Ethel asked.

"You know what." Mildred looked at her and conjured an extra helmet, and Ethel groaned.

Less than five minutes later they were speeding down to the college, Ethel holding fast to Millie's waist, not nearly as nervous as she was several times before, despite the fact Mildred was going faster than she ever had. Things felt so familiar, something about this reminding her of the years at Cackles when Mildred and her would band together when it was necessary, but this time the stakes were higher.

Fern having Mildred's catalyst was a scary prospect, as being connected to her magic directly, she could pull the trick of making Millie sick again, or she could attack her through her magic and if she destroyed the stone, she could kill her! The horrible thought caused Ethel to hold tighter to Millie's waist, a little tighter, a little closer as she promised herself she wouldn't let anything happen to her.

Mildred stopped her motorcycle near the college, looking around as she removed her helmet and slowly noticing how Ethel was still clinging to her, gently reaching for her pale hand and holding it. "We're here."

Ethel nodded and both witches got down from the motorcycle, quietly moving towards the entrance to the catacombs, when suddenly there was a high screech in the sky - it was Rowena, alerting her witch of Millie and Ethel's presence, but thinking fast and fueled by anger over what happened to Nightstar, Ethel quickly zapped the bird with a petrifying spell, making her fall from the sky as Ethel looked upon her mercilessly prepared to let her fall, but Mildred jumped to catch the bird before she could hit the ground and get hurt, but the bird disappeared midair.

~0~

Gerry's eyes turned upwards as she heard Rowena's screeches, one being choked up right in the middle and at that, she invoked her familiar close to her, an ancient spell she had learned while researching, and held tight in her hand, Mildred's catalyst stone, gently rubbing it between her fingers as she waited.

She hears the footsteps coming down the stairs, holding up her hand, and readying a spell, eyes concentrated and focussed at the only entrance, when suddenly the footsteps stopped, what seemed to be just beyond her reach.

Gerry's body tensed more with suspicion, eyes combing through the darkness as she scanned for her enemies, taking steps forwards, when suddenly the grate above her exploded upwards and down came Ethel using a spell to land gracefully behind her before she immediately started to attack Gerry with a magical duelist skills.

Fern jumped back in surprise and the rather amazing entrance, but just as quickly the surprise was gone and she found herself defending against the vicious attacks she couldn't help but smile.

"And I thought Millie was exaggerating when she talked about your proficiency in duelist spells but I suppose, you could be that good, however;" She said with a grin as she managed to misdirect her and hit Ethel in the stomach, sending her flying back; "Not good enough." Gerry held up Millie's catalyst stone, just as the other woman was about about to approach her and sent a surge of her own magic through it, making Mildred fall to her knees with a scream of pain.

"Sorry about that, Mil." She said, her voice actually sounding regretful, as she put an orb of dark magic around the rock, making Mildred unable to move or do anything, but feel pain. "This wasn't how I hoped this would go, but some things are more important." Fern then pulled out a silver dagger.

"No!" Ethel tried to stand up, but she couldn't, her body was weighing down on her and only then she noticed she had landed over chalk marks on the floor riddled with runes, holding her down.

"What?" Gerry smiled and pointed the dagger; "Oh, you think this is for her?" She shook her head. "No, Hallow, this is for you." Fern approached her and pushed Ethel's head aside, making a cut on her neck, blood starting to flow down to the floor, running between grooves, where the blood touched starting to glow gold and vibrate with magic.

"What is this?" Ethel asked, her vision blurring

"This is what I was truly after." Fern gestured and the seal disappeared from the floor. "My illusion spells don't last long, so getting Mildred to draw the illusion itself and use her art to make it seem real was a better idea." She boasted and moved to the center of the room, where the golden flow of Ethel's blood formed a different symbol, one that the blonde recognized; Five flowers, in five brooms, in five hats, in five cauldrons in each the potions to represent each of the five natural elements, earth, air, fire, water and magic.

It was the symbol of the Wicked Five.

From the floor emerged a pedestal with deep red rock on top, that seemed to pulsate like a heart.

"A dragon heart." Mildred whispered, trying to bring herself up.

"Yes, the secret of their power, how they kept themselves on the top until, well." Geraldine turns to look at Ethel. "Wondering why it's your blood that opened it? I imagine you already know, it's our family's style, I believe." Her eyes were unreadable.

"She was a Hallow?" Ethel whispered to herself, not noticing what Gerry said fully.

Gerry nodded; "Evelyn Hallow, under appreciated middle daughter that was confined to mediocrity under her sister's shadow… Sounds familiar?" She grinned. "Come on Ethel, we are so alike."

"I am nothing like you, Fern." Ethel spat back and the other woman laughed at the name, in an odd way; "You're lying! She was the one who helped them hunt down the Wicked Five!"

Gerry laughed; "There is nothing a Hubble can do, that a Hallow can't steal the credit for!" She quoted. "The person to actually find them was Marjo Hubble, Evelyn, that is to say, I killed her and then gave limited information to the council, it helped me climb up socially."

Ethel looked utterly confused, both by the information and the wording; "That's not possible! She has been dead for centuries!"

"Oh, but what is death?" She asked with a taunting smile. "A witch finds a way, my dear, you don't even sound like a real Hallow."

Her eyes turned unreadable again; "I founded my coven, kept it a secret while I worked here, teaching magical anomalies, but being in faculty gave me access and a place to hide this." She stood up again, unconcerned with the two witches and moved to the heart and placed her hand on it, absorbing some of its power and suddenly, she fell back, passing out, leaving behind an ethereal figure, that soon started to take a corporeal form, turning into a tall blonde woman in a blood red dress.

"Finally, back to the world of the living." The woman sighed smugly and looked down upon Gerry; "I won't be needing that anymore." She pushed away the young woman's limp body with an short burst of magic. "Manipulation is so much easier when you convince the other it was all their idea the whole time."

Mildred's eyes moved from Gerry to Ethel to the third woman, her frustration growing deep inside of her, as she tried to move, too weak to do so, her body in too much pain for her to concentrate her magic without help. She punched the ground in frustration, hearing something metallic inside her coat clank and she looked at it curiously, her hand making her way inside.

Ethel's eyes went wide; "You were possessing her..."

"For years, my dear." Evelyn said, and with a gesture she healed Ethel's neck, leaving behind a pale scar; "She resisted, of course, at first. Even tried to get rid of me by seeking Pentangle's help. They thought they had caught me, though, Pippa still found it prudent to send those little letters, that I fortunately intercepted." She sighed with smug satisfaction.

Mildred pulled out the spanner her dad had given her, looking at its shape noticing that, when held slightly sideways, it looked like a crescent moon. Mildred's eyes meet Ethel's before the blonde looked up at her newly revived ancestor.

"How?" She asked.

"Long, arduous work my dear, to slowly work Geraldine here into thinking her will was hers and not mine, sometimes taking control of her body while she slept to do small things as throw some misdirection pretending I wanted to be in Stonehenge instead of here, so Pentangle would be more worried about that, destroying her other letter." She made a dismissive gesture. "Anyway, here I am now, ready to get it all back, starting with my body." She looked down at her fingers. "Now, all I need is a new coven."

"You can start one right now..." Ethel said and Evelyn looked at her, surprised.

"You are willing to join me?" The witch grinned as Ethel nodded. "So you are a real Hallow after all." She extended her hand to Ethel.

Ethel looked up at her and grinned; "Of course, it depends on... What will I get from this?"

Evelyn smiled widely; "Oh, that's what I expected. What do you want my dear?"

Gerry slowly opened her eyes, dazzled and confused and her eyes landed on Rowena, petrified on the floor. She knew why and how, but it was all a blur, it was a mess, it was out of her reach, until she looked up and saw the woman that had come across the Veil to talk to her that fateful day. Her brain slowly rebuilt what was left of herself, but before that, she extended her fingers and undid the spell on her raven with her last bit of magical strength, reserving the physical one for the task at hand.

Ethel took Evelyn'shand, just as Mildred used the spanner, concentrating over the pain to make her catalyst fly towards her, snatching it out of the air and closing her fist around it,breaking the energy barrier.

Ethel held her ancestor's hand firmly and smiled openly; "I want you to go back to hell!" She spat and pulled the potion vial she had in her pocket and shoved it down Evelyn's throat, making her stagger back, spluttering, before she spat the bottle and the rest of the potion on the floor.

"HOW DARE YOU?" She screamed, and raised her hand to cast a spell, but nothing came forth. "What?"

Ethel slowly stood up, vision still blurry due to the blood loss; "Magical inhibitor!" She grinned. "Made some in case Mildred's catalyst put her life in danger. What are you going to do now, great, great, great, great, great however many greats, aunt?"

Evelyn gave a savage smile; "I'll see if my aim is still what it used to be." With that she pulled out the silver dagger and went to throw it at Mildred, but before the blade could leave her fingers, Gerry pounced on her.

"YOU USED ME, YOU EVIL BITCH! YOU STOLE YEARS OF MY LIFE!" Gerry screamed, clawing at the witch's head!

"GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME!" Evelyn screamed, twisting and turning as she tried to get Gerry off of her.

Ethel and Mildred exchanged looks as the two women scuffled about the room, Gerry firmly holding to Evelyn's hair like an angry cat, until Ethel frowned started to aim, preparing a spell-

"Ethel no! You might hit Gerry!"

"Do you have a better idea?"

Gerry screamed then as Evelyn stabbed her viciously in the side with her dagger and finally separated the girl from herself. Immediately, Ethel attacked, but Evelyn reflected the spell with the blade, making Ethel scurry out of the way, before running again to the dragon's heart, this time it was Rowena that attacked her.

"Don't let her touch the heart!" Gerry cried out, holding her side, breathing hard but still able to hold herself together. "It will give her powers again! You have to destroy it, but you can't do it with magic!"

Mildred once again looked at the spanner and ran to the heart, the tool held ready to smash the heart into a million pieces. Evelyn hit Rowena with enough strength to send the bird her against a wall, just in time to see Mildred held up the spanner. She tried to run to the heart, but Gerry held her foot, making her fall and Ethel immediately used a retrieving spell to get the dagger away from Evelyn, and petrifying her so she wouldn't move, before she could react.

Even in her petrified state Evelyn could still see as Mildred savagely destroyed the heart with the spanner, a single tear rolling down her petrified face before she vanished forever, leaving behind three exhausted young women.

Mildred looked up, feeling immense relief that Ethel was on her feet and well despite everything.

"Ethel, are you alright?" She asked and the blonde nodded, despite the fact she felt very light headed and one of her favourite blouses was now ruined with grime and blood.

A moan of pain came from the floor, bringing Mildred's attention to someone else; "Gerry!" She cried out, running to her former girlfriend and making her show the wound that Evelyn had left on her side.

"Millie, I am so sorry!" She started to try to explain herself, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"No no, Gerry it's fine, it wasn't your fault!" Mildred reassured her and gently touched her forehead. "You didn't had a-"

"I opened the Veil! I opened myself, I deserve this!"

"No one deserves to go years of their life being manipulated by the spirit of an evil witch..." Ethel said, approaching them both, kneeling beside Gerry and wordlessly starting to heal her wound, not noticing the pride and love in Mildred's eyes as she looked at her, smithen.

"Yes, Ethel is right." Mildred said, slowly taking her eyes off Ethel, having to force herself to look away from her beautiful face, illuminated by the light golden glow of her magic, to look at Gerry again. "You'll be fine."

"She needs a hospital, this the most I can do with my limited unders-" Ethel beings only to be cut off by a low rumbling noise as the pedestal descended, taking the pieces of the dragon heart down with it back into the floor; "-tanding." Ethel finished. "What is going on?"

"It's going to rest and reform." Gerry said with a smile. "You can't really destroy a dragon heart forever by breaking it, but it works for sending one evil witch that has no powers and is breaking natural law back beyond the Veil."

"We wouldn't have made it without you." Mildred said, smiling at her. "Let's get ourselves to the infirmary." She said and stood up, helping Gerry to get to her feet as all three women staggered out, leaning on each other.

"What will be the excuse for this exactly?" Gerry asked ironically.

"Cauldron mishap?" Millie grinned.

~0~

"Are you sure, you're fine?" Millie asked, as Ethel leaned on her still, and looked at the side of her neck, worried. "You lost a lot of blood."

"I am fine, I just need to eat, drink and get some sleep, that's all." Ethel said, and looked down upon her clothes and groaned. "Also a shower."

"I'll be here in case you need anything from me alright." Millie said tenderly and Ethel looked up at her, not realizing how close they were, until that simple look almost caused them to touch their lips, their noses were brushing together and they stared into each other's eyes tenderly, their heads bending in opposite directions, both swallowing hard and dry, feeling the other's breath and washing over their faces, so close, so-

That was when the elevator doors opened and both heard laughter coming from their apartment -obnoxiously loud, drunken laughter and the romantic moment was suddenly transformed into a very confusing one, as both asked at the same time;

"Is that my mum?"

(tbc)


	10. Masking Heart And Soul

**Chapter 10 - Masking Heart and Soul**

 _While sitting down at the table Julie took a sip of her tea, feeling a wave of something strange go through her and she stared at Ursula as she drank her own tea; "So… What is wrong with you? What's up the whole arrogant act?" She asked, not able to stop herself._

 _Ursula looked up offended, but as she went to tell Julie off, all that came out was: "It's called being a Hallow." 'Was that what I actually said?' She thought while frowning to herself. "I have to do it for the sake of my family's legacy, any display of weakness would bring us down in everyone else's eyes. What about you, how can you endure living knowing you should be a witch, but aren't?"_

 _Julie thought for a moment, "I am utterly indifferent towards it. I only care about magic as far as it affects Millie's life."_

" _You're lying…" Ursula said bluntly ._

" _For some reason, I don't think I have the ability to lie right now." Julie admitted._

" _Actually…" Ursula said looking befuddled as she glanced down at her tea. "I don't think I can either…" Her eyes went wide. "Goddammit Mother!" She huffed angrily; "I don't know how, but she gave us her honestea! We can't lie for the next few hours!"_

" _You seem to have some problems with your mother there… Honestly, she doesn't sound very nice." Julie remarked, being quite light, when you consider the woman had drugged her daughter._

" _OH, DON'T GET ME STARTED!" Ursula spat and took a deep breath, looking down at her tea: "Actually, you know what! Let ME get started here!" With that she downed the whole cup of tea in one swallow. "I swear to all the magic in the universe that if anything I am about to say leaves this room, they won't find your body!"_

" _I believe you..."_

~0~

Mildred and Ethel looked at each other.

"Why are they laughing?" Mildred asked.

"Why do they sound drunk?" Ethel replied back in a panicked tone.

Both witches approached the door and started listening to what was going on inside, hearing Ursula's voice and Julie's raucous laughter in the background;

"We could hear my mother barreling down the hall towards my room! I have never seen Ulisses so scared in my life! I am just throwing everything at him; shirt, cape, broom, condom wrapper," Ethel jumped back and away from the door, reaching for Mildred's catalyst stone frantically and starting to undo the spell "Hat, EVERYTHING and I just pushed him out of the window, threw my dress back on and then before my mother just opened the door I had to kick his trousers under the bed!"

"Oh GOD, that's too good!" Julie says while doubling over with laughter.

"Oh, that's nothing! You don't even want to know what Epona has walked in on in that room!"

At this moment Ethel and Mildred kick the door open and race into the apartment.

"HI WE'RE BACK!" Ethel screams, not quite able to control the volume of her voice, after seeing her mother pointing at her room. "Let's change the subject, please!" She begs.

Both Julie and Ursula jump in fright at the entrance, almost knocking over their shot glasses sitting in front of them and the half empty bottle of rum off the table, the mirth slowly disappearing from both of their faces as they looked at the states of their respective daughters.

"Millie! What happened?" Julie asked concerned and walked towards her daughter, examining her carefully, checking her over for injuries with a trained eye. "Does anything hurt?"

"Mum, I am fine, don't worry…" Mildred reassured her with a smile, trying to calm her mother when she notices how pale Ursula looks. "Uh, Mrs-"

"Is that blood?" Ursula asks faintly, she was never a fan of the sight of blood, despite trying to hide it, but this time it was impossible, her face was white as paper and her eyes clearly wide with distress, her heart beating so hard the alcohol almost left her system.

Ethel moves her hand to cover the stain on her neck, shielding it from sight. "Don't worry about it." She said casually and walked by her mother and into her room briskly, hoping she wouldn't be followed and would be left to shower in peace.

"That does not answer my question, Ethel Lucretia Hallow!" Ursula barked following after Ethel and closing the door behind them. "What happened? Why are you covered in blood and grime?"

"What happened?" Ethel repeated and started to strip. "The Hallow legacy happened again! This time from right beyond the Veil to-" She suddenly stopped, feeling dizzy and having to lean against the wall before shaking her head. "There is no point telling you. Everything is fine." She finished while managing to stay upright.

"Is that how it goes now? You just decide not to tell me anything." Ursula asked annoyed and placed both hands on her hips.

"You were never interested in anything I had to say! Why start now?" Ethel said dismissively, which soon turned into anger as she looked at her mother's stance; "And will you stop with the patented, Ursula Hallow power stance!" She said, actually using finger quotes; "I am not twelve anymore! That won't work! I just had my neck sliced open by a crazy ancestor possessing some poor girl, I don't have enough blood IN MY BODY TO BE AFRAID NOW!" She screamed which made her feel more light headed and stagger.

"Of course I care what you- Morgana Le Fay, just sit down, before you pass out on the damn floor!" Ursula ordered and forced Ethel to sit down on a chair, half undressed. "There you are again, running off without me! And your grandmother says you need me, you never needed me!"

"And Sybil and Esmie did?" She asked, tired.

"YES!" Ursula screamed back. "Esme is very intelligent and clever, more than you or Sybil, but is also ridiculously naive! Throw her into the world and someone like you could run laps around her! Sybil was anxious and fragile, and while that makes her very good at reading people's emotions, she has no idea what to do with it, you do! You manipulate them, as I would!" Ursula paused, seeing her daughter's unreadable expression. "Ethel, do you know why I was so angry at you, when Agatha stole your sister's powers?"

"Because I betrayed your favorite and helped Agatha steal her powers!" Ethel shot back sarcastically, and then realized what had just come out of her mouth, the old jealousy she felt for Esme still burned inside of her, somewhere, and she couldn't help but feel ashamed of her words.

"Exactly! Because, despite Esme incisting you had nothing to do with it she LIED TO ME - TO MY FACE, rather well might I add, TO PROTECT YOU!" She looked Ethel straight in the eyes and said in a low tone. "I knew it was a lie! I knew you could see right through Agatha! I knew you would have said SOMETHING to Esme, pointing out that not saying the name of the person to whom you are transferring your powers to would be foolish, but you didn't!"

Ethel looked at her mother with surprise.

"I do not know what you may think of me, Ethel, but I know my daughters!"

There was a moment of silence during which both women looked at each other fearlessly; analysing each other and just generally remembering their lives together, every detail running by them, the same events, different perspectives, different interpretations, until Ethel leaned back;

"Do you really?" Ethel asked and gave a bitter smile. "Then why weren't you there for me?"

"You didn't need me!" Ursula replied . "You are strong, smart and could look after yourself. Even in Cackles, you made a few mistakes, but they were on that girl, not-"

"Don't you DARE blame Mildred!" Ethel shot back as she stood from her seat "I've done that enough!"

"You were a headache in Cackles because of the stupid rivalry you had with that girl and the worst part was that she didn't compare to you! I was so angry you suddenly became blind to how strong you were, but even in those moments you didn't need me!"

"I DID NEED YOU! You just assumed I didn't!" Ethel yelled and felt a lump form in her throat. "I was so desperate for you to give me credit and trust! I wanted nothing more than your attention and to come out of Esme's shadow!" Tears came to her eyes and started flowing freely down her face. "That was why I hated Millie so much for so long, because she ruined my chances to do so from the beginning!" She wiped her tears away, feeling pathetic for crying. "Doesn't matter anymore." She took a deep breath; "You're right, I don't need you anymore. I am doing fine on my own." Ethel said exhausted, before passing out.

Ursula caught her daughter before she could hit the floor and carefully moved Ethel to her bed. "I can't believe your grandmother was right after all…" She whispered tightly, better at holding back her own tears than her daughter.

~0~

The days that followed were moving slowly towards being better, Mildred went to visit Gerry a lot, trying to make sure she was fine after everything she went through.

"How are things now?" Millie asked as she walked besides Gerry as she looked up at the sun, it shining brighter than usual for that time of the year.

"Well, I am finding my footing I guess." Gerry admitted. "This is so strange." She looked down. "I still don't know who I am after all. I keep second guessing myself, wondering if I can trust my instincts and thoughts and even who I am after having that bitch in my body for all those years."

"You'll find out in time." Mildred reassured her and smiled.

"Yeah, in the meanwhile, I am changing my major to 'Witchory'."

"Really? Why?"

Gerry bit her lower lip, hesitant; "I don't want to study 'Magical Anomalies' anymore, that's all." Her shoulders set uncomfortably.

"Oh, I see… Good luck then!" Mildred said her smile widening and, gave her two thumbs up, making Gerry chortle and look at her with curiosity in her eyes;

"Have you confessed to Ethel yet?" She asked, her eyebrows waggling up and down.

"Oh, no no! I- She needs time right now." Mildred said, remembering the fight between Ethel and her mum in Ethel's room as her mother and her tried to tell what had happened, and all the times her mother had kept Mildred from going into the room, until Ursula Hallow came out of it, said a quiet goodbye and left. Now Mildred was more preoccupied with being Ethel's friend than pursuing her deeper feelings.

Gerry raised an eyebrow; "Mildred, she obviously feels the same."

"She is also going through something right now…" Mildred said; "I don't want to feel like I am taking advantage of it. I am trying to be her friend-"

"You are her friend, that doesn't change the fact that you love her. And YES, remember how you admitted that to me? Why is it so hard to admit to her?"

"Ok, ok… I'll think about it. What about you? I heard you got a dress."

"Oh, Nick invited me. Apparently the news that we broke up went around quickly."

"Nick?" Mildred looked at her surprised; "Nick Hobbes?"

"Yeah, he'll go as Oscar Wilde and I'll be Emily Dickinson."

"I didn't know Oscar Wilde was a wizard… Or that Emily Dickinson was a witch…" Mildred frowned. "Weren't both of them gay? and I didn't know you were interested in Nick either."

"It's just a ball." Gerry shrugged; "I never just fall for people, I have to get to know them beforehand and I don't know much about Nick, so who knows." She looked at her watch. "I have to go Millie, I have a class I need to go to." She winked and kissed her cheek. "Think about what I told you… And again, thank you and Ethel for not sending me to-"

"Will you stop thanking us for that?" Millie said faking being cross. "Besides it's not like it was for nothing, Ethel made you take that oath anyway. Now move along! See you around." She waved to the goth girl as she walked away, not seeing as Gerry smiled to herself, determined to do something to help them.

"Hey Hawthorne! Can we talk?"

~0~

Ethel looked herself in the mirror, looking herself in the eye as she put on a black mask with feline features that went from her nose to forehead, triangular ears protruding from the top, examining her costume one final time for the party, a medieval style black dress with purple accents and sash around her waist.

She hadn't talked to her mother at all since she passed out during their argument, neither woman seeking out the other, but her grandma had invited her to have tea tomorrow, the usual affair; herself, her grandma, Esme and Sybil, but this time at Salem for Esme's convenience, at least she had that to look forward to, after the masquerade of course.

It wasn't a fun week for her, to say the least, the fight she had with her mother wouldn't leave her head, the budding something between Millie and Gerry seemed to grow more and more due to Millie wanting to help her after her ordeal, not helping Ethel's feelings at all, but she was determined to have fun and enjoy her evening.

Meanwhile, outside, Mildred paused her game as the doorbell rang and stood upon bare feet, already dressed for a night in with pajama bottoms and loose tank top completing the ensemble ready to replaying a video game she had played a thousand times before..

Walking to the door she opened it and greeting the person on the other side.; "Come in Zac. You alright?"

"Perfectly fine!" Zac responded, looking incredibly dashing in his rifleman's uniform, which included a baker rifle with the engravings of a staff, very clever, if Millie did say so herself. "Is Ethel ready?"

"If she isn't, she will be soon, probably." Millie said and looked towards Ethel's door just as she came out of her room, causing Mildred to go slack jawed and stare.

"I am ready." Ethel said.

"God, you look gorgeous." Zac complimented looking at her with the same expression as Mildred. He walked towards her and made an older, more elaborated version of the usual witch salute then offered his arm to her, as Mildred just stood there like a sapphic two of clubs.

Ethel responded with the same gesture and then took his arm, looking at Mildred just as she recovers and manages to look less gay, useless and in love.

"Have fun you two." She said and forced a smile. "And don't come back too late or I am locking you both out." She 'joked', sounding rather serious.

"We'll be back before midnight, daddy, don't worry." Ethel said rising an eyebrow as Zac escorted her to the door, both saying goodbye, leaving Millie behind waving and already starting to feel despondent .

The worst witch groaned and dragged herself back to her game, unpausing it and trying to get back into the flow.

~0~

An hour later, Nick and Gerry stood by the table with the food and drinks, having a conversation about life in general and what had happened to them the last few days, with Fern omitting a few things, of course.

"Oh come on! Why did you say that about Ethel? Who are you to judge, Nick?" Gerry said, crossing her arms.

"I wasn't judging, just saying the truth! Come on now, Gerry, we are not like people without magic, we don't judge women that harshly for having the sex they want… Unless they come from old traditional families, like the Hallows, and they shouldn't, but still-" He paused and took a sip from his punch; "that was when I heard a lady spluttering on the opposite side of the counter. Charlie and I ran to help and guess who it was?"

"Ethel herself?"

"Not exactly. Ursula Hallow, actually." Nick said with a pained expression.

Gerry's eyes went wide; "Oh, you are so dead, Nick! It was nice meeting you."

"Well, she hasn't done anything yet." He said hopefully. "Maybe, she'll forget about it? I heard Ethel was pretty hurt by that cauldron explosion that Millie, her and you were involved in."

Gerry looked slightly guilty for a second, but soon smiled "Oh, don't count on it! She'll come for you, just wait for it man, if her reputation is anything to go by it will happen soon." She said and took a sip of her punch as she noticed someone approach the table. "Zacty Zac! How are you?"

Zac looked at her an eyebrow raised with a glum expression on his face.

"You don't look like you're having fun, sir." Nick pointed out.

"I don't think anyone is."

"Everybody is, but you." Nick interjected, looking around the room for Ethel. "Where is your girlfriend anyway?"

"I don't have one." Zac responded, drinking his punch. "I am here with a very bored friend and her mind is, I don't know where."

Nick grinned; "I suspect I know where."

"Oh, shut up, Nick!" Gerry said and looked at Zac; "Finding out I was right?" She asked rhetorically. She could have laughed, but in truth, she couldn't. "I told you, she isn't into you. We both know who she IS into."

"Well, that might be true, but what can I do at this point?"

Gerry smiled at him; "I might have an idea, but we'll need a certain third party to agree."

~0~

Ethel was pretty sure it had been over fifteen minutes since she had last seen Zac and got tired of waiting for her drink, or for him for that matter and simply made her way to the refreshments table herself, finding Charlie leaning against it, eating canapes and drinking some punch.

She nodded at him, but didn't say anything, not feeling in the mood for conversation.

Ethel was trying to have fun, she really was, but it was hard. The last few days she had studied harder than ever, tried not to think about her own feelings, yet, even then, the brightest spot of her day was talking to Mildred; before college, after it at home, eating with her and saying good night before they parted ways in the hall, looking at each other as their doors slowly closed and they both went into their rooms alone.

It wasn't that she didn't like Zac, or that the masquerade wasn't fun, it was simply because Zac wasn't Mildred and that was hardly his fault. She leaned against the table, observing the people dancing and talking, feeling really bad for what she was probably doing to Zac, this wasn't his fault… It was her fault, she shouldn't have invited him to come.

"Blossom, have you seen Zac around?" She asked Charlie.

He nodded at her; "Yeah, he was here with Gerry and Nick for a moment, then they left."

"What?" Ethel asked, shocked, feeling the anger rise in her.

"They left the Table! I don't know where they went."

"Careful how you phrase things!"

"Look, relax! It's that Zac?" he pointed at a tall figure in the middle of the dance floor, back turned to them, in Zac's costume.

"Yeah. See you later." She started walking towards him and as she got closer she noticed something; a ponytail. A long, brown, silken ponytail, and wondered how she didn't noticed that on Zac before, until the figure started turning towards her slowly and even with their face hidden by a hawk-like brown mask, she recognized those eyes.

"Miss Hallow, well met." Mildred said, bowing in the way of the same old salute as Zac had at their apartment, executed perfectly. "Would you give me the pleasure of this dance." She added, her jaw a little tense, and as she extended her hand, she dry swallowed, wondering if Ethel would reject her .

Ethel's mouth opened and closed, before giving the other witch a brilliant smile and took her hand, looking her in the eyes.

Mildred sighed with relief and brought Ethel close, hands around her waist as the music transitioned to the next one, the first few chords of 'Head Over Heels' starting to play.

"I thought you already had plans for tonight." Ethel smiled, looking into Mildred's eyes. "Something about killing some guy called Starrick?"

"Oh, the Templar order can wait to be brought down by my hidden blade once more, besides, my mind and heart were not in it;" Mildred said, her hands on her waist bringing her a little closer; "My mind was far away, thinking of people I had to see and things I had to say… So I came to say them."

Ethel got closer, her arms looping around Mildred's neck, absentmindedly playing with her ponytail and she smiled, getting their faces very close; "Alright, can I help?"

Millie chuckled and looked into her eyes, mouth opening slowly, breath leaving her lungs as she spoke up finally; "I love you." Such a simple sentence, said quietly, but inside, her heart felt like it was about to jump to her throat, it was beating so fast. She ended up adding a little flustered; "I… Just do. I want to be with you, if you feel the same or would at least give me a chance."

Ethel looked at her and smiled; "How did that happen - falling in love with me, of all people?"

Mildred sighed with relief when Ethel didn't just push her away; "I don't know… Maybe one day someone will be able to explains things of the heart." She smiled.

"They'll have to explain it to me as well, because I love you too." Ethel hugged her tighter, pulling Mildred's face down, closer to her own. "I don't know how it happened either, or when, I just know what I feel when I am with you and what I feel when we're apart and I rather enjoy being this close more than anything else."

Mildred smiled and chuckled while her hands moved across Ethel's back; "Well, that was… Right out of a classic romantic novel. Jane Austen would be proud."

"I wouldn't go that far." Ethel said while raising a cynical eyebrow, but her lips still held her bright smile. "It's more like a fanfic, really."

Mildred frowned and thought for a second; "That's better actually." She moved her hand and slowly lifted Ethel's mask. "Jane Austen never let her characters kiss, and I would like to do that."

Ethel smiled at her and slowly lifted Mildred's mask from her face, closing the distance between their lips slowly, until they touched in the softest way, and yet, still, both felt a warm wave run through their bodies. Relief, need and sublimation of a deep want, coming from such a simple and light touch, carrying much more power to it than any other kisses they ever had before their lives.

Still, of course they moved along; light kisses deepening, lips being kissed gently, then less gently, mouths opening, the elicitation of slow moans, arms bringing the each other even closer and soon enough they had to leave the dancefloor, finding instead the nearest wall. Mildred gently pressed Ethel against it, not that the blonde was complaining, instead smiling predatorily at her as she held her lapels and pulled Mildred into kisses that soon turned heated and passionated.

Finally, Mildred had to pull back for air and Ethel immediately started to kiss her neck; "We- We should-" Millie tries to say, breathless, with moans rising in her throat; "go home…"

Ethel looked up at her, running her hand over upper part of her chest and whispering against her jaw; "Do you want to?" kissing it right after.

Millie held her tightly, eyes fluttering close as she responds desperately, almost running out of breath; "Yes, please. I want it to be just the two of us." She said and felt Ethel's lips on hers as her tongue slid into her mouth, kissing her deeply while Ethel raised her hand and transferred the both of them away.

(to be continued as the mighty fine print hastens the trip to our epilogue)


	11. An Abundance Of Epilogues

**1 - Sisters**

"Where is Ethel?" Sybil asked while looking at her watch.

The thing with quick international travel through magic is that it takes at least three witches, if one is very powerful and a lot of chanting. A LOT of chanting.

"I don't know." Enya said, the mirror in front of her showing nothing but the living room in her granddaughter's apartment, and for some reason, both Nightstar and Tabby, lazily draped over the sofa and each other, ignoring her pleas for them to go get her granddaughter. "It's so strange, usually the familiars don't ignore us like that."

Sybil sighed, stood up and stretched. "I'll go to her house, Grandma."

"Yes, that's for the best. She might be sick.' Enya said but considering of how Nightstar didn't listen to her, that was unlikely but still not impossible.

It was all very strange indeed.

Sybil made a gesture with her hand and transferred to her sister's apartment, the entrance more specifically, feeling the floor under her feet very... Soft? Confused she bounced on her heels slightly and looked down realizing she was standing on a dark faux fur cape.

She shook her head, snapping out of it and started looking around the apartment, noticing there were clothes thrown about the place and slowly made her way to the corridor leading to the bedrooms. Noticing Mildred's bedroom door was wide open, the bed looking unslept in and the room itself appeared empty, but she shrugged it off as she knocked softly on Ethel's door, slowly opening it and peeking inside.

And there was Mildred and Ethel, sleeping soundly and spooning under the covers.

"OH!" Sybil exclaimed, jumping back and letting go of the door handle like it was on fire. Sybil spun around and tried to run, go somewhere, anywhere else, so she could pretend she was never there, but Ethel's accursed bra made her trip and fall on the ground with a loud thud and an even louder scream of pain.

Ethel woke up with a jerk startled awake by the sound, when she saw Sybil on the floor, instinctually getting to her feet as she ran to help her. "Sybil? What are you doing here?"

"Oh god you're naked!" Sybil shrieked, clapping her hands over her whole face, because of the shame, and a profusely bleeding nose after hitting the floor, but mostly shame.

"Shit-" Ethel said and turned around to go get something to wear, but Mildred was already throwing her a long shirt and giving her the thumbs up, making Ethel smile; "Thanks, love!" She put on the shirt and helped Sybil up. "Come on, sit at the kitchen table, keep your head up."

"No, don't do that, put your head forwards and let it bleed on a piece of paper or something." Mildred said, picking up her costume pants and putting on her tank top as well.

"You're sure?" Sybil asked while breathing through her mouth.

"Her mum is a nurse, let's trust her." Ethel said as she put a bunch of paper towels in front of Sybil's nose.

Mildred smiled at Ethel for that remark and looked at Sybil "Yeah, like that." She said as she walked towards the table and pinched the base of Sybil's nose as she sat down to her left and looked at her watch.

"What are you doing?" Sybil asked as Ethel sat on the chair on the other side of her.

"Just putting a little pressure so it will stop bleeding soon, don't worry." Mildred said before an awkward silence descended.

"So…" Sybil said, looking from one witch to the other. "You're together now I assume."

"Yeah!" Millie said with a smile. "We confessed how we felt yesterday, during the ball."

"And then come home and- You two have already…" Sybil gestured with a pained expression trying to find the words.

Ethel rolled her eyes; "You see, Sybil, when a mummy and a daddy love each other very much they-"

"Oh, God no! Stop that! You're not even the least bit funny, Ethel!" The younger woman took a deep breath through her mouth and looked at the table.

Millie tried to think of something nice to say that would make Sybil feel better; "It's ok, Sybs, she doesn't actually call me daddy." She then smiled reassuringly.

Sybil looked her in the eyes, the bleeding from her nose coming to halt finally, as she managed to force out a; "Thanks, Mildred." Then she looked at Ethel. "Grandma is waiting for us… We should go."

Ethel nodded; "Sure, sure, I'll go put something more decent on." On her way she stopped by Mildred and whispered to her ear with a grin; "I could call you daddy if you wanted me to."

Sybil snapped; "PLEASE, GO GET DRESSED!"

~0~

Half an hour later Sybil, Ethel and Enya were finishing their chanting and being transported to Esme's apartment.

"There you are!" Said Esme walking towards their grandma and hugging her first. "I got what you asked me, it's in my office." she said quietly, Enya nodded and left to enter the office, and Esme turned to Ethel and Sybil, hugging the both of them at the same time. "I missed you two so much!" She snuggled them closer.

"We missed you too!" Sybil said putting her arms around them; "And Ethel has great news!" She smiled openly and looked at her sister expectantly.

Ethel rolled her eyes; "I am dating Millie now."

"Ethel, that's great!" Esme exclaimed and pulled her closer; "Finally! When did it happen?'

"At the ball last night… She traded clothes with my date and surprised me in the ballroom." She smiled. "Soon enough we were back in the apartment and- Lets just say you don't need to worry if I can't quite walk straight today." Ethel looked at Sybil to see her blush and make a disgusted expression.

"Jesus, Ethel!" The youngest Hallow cried while Esme and Ethel laughed.

"I know the feeling." Esme said absentmindedly and once again Sybil made a face.

"Where is Erik by the way?" Ethel asked as her sisters took her to sit on the sofa in the corner. Esme's apartment was the biggest and better decorated they had, but mostly because she was actually starting to make good money by herself.

"He knows this is family thing so he'll come back tonight. How is Mildred?"

"Going to watch one of her father's shows, he is a singer of some kind Millie said it involves costumes, it sounds interesting, anyway, she is going with her mum, he invited them both."

"Oh, I see…" Esmeralda said while rubbing her arm up and down and looked her in the eye. "Are you happy?"

"Happier than I have been in a long time." Ethel admitted.

"Who declared themselves first?" Esmie asked, exchange a look with Sybil.

"Her." Ethel admitted not noticing the look her sister's exchanged. "If she hadn't, I would have done it myself as soon as I was back in the apartment." Once more she didn't see the look her sisters exchanged and even if she had she wouldn't have had much time to think about it.

"And I am happy for you, love." Enya said walking back into the room, her expression a little more grave. "Still, there is some other business you have to attend to."

"Me?" Ethel asked.

Enya nodded. "Your mother is in the other room." Said and saw her granddaughter frown, raising a hand before Ethel could say anything; "She didn't know we would do this either, but she does wish to see you, I asked her and she confirmed it. If you do not wish to see her, you don't have to, but it would mean a lot to her. There's no pressure it's completely up to you."

 **2 - Mothers and Daughters**

Mildred looked outside the window of the car wistfully as her mother drove them to Bath to see her dad's drag show together. "What did Ursula Hallow and you talk about the other day?"

"Do you really want to know?" Julie asked, side eying her daughter as much as she could without taking her eyes from the road. "It was mostly personal things, neither of us could lie at the moment, so agreeing that it just wouldn't leave the room was part of it, and I promise; I don't see why you would have an interest in them."

Millie sighed; "I don't know… I know Ethel is still pretty shaken from that fight she had with her mum, maybe knowing what you talked about would help."

"That's between her mother and her. I know you love her, but it's all up to them to take the first step and to start talking openly." Julie looked at her as they stopped at the light. "That you can't do for her, it's up to them. All you can do is be there for her when she needs you."

~0~

Ethel stood in front of the door to Esme's office, her brain recalling a memory from when she was eight years old. Esme was getting private lessons on broomstick flying and while the broom was standing in the living room, Ethel took it and went for a joyride around the house.

It went mostly well, Ethel soon found out how naturally flying a broomstick came to her, but eventually an especially tight corner made her overshoot and sent her careening into the wall, knocking over a priceless painting of her great, great, great grandmother, putting a hole in the canvas that cost her parents thousands to restore.

Feeling neglected by her mother was something that Ethel could remember feeling even earlier than that in her life, but that was the first time she saw her mother both furious and disappointed in her. Her disapproval had pierced like a knife then, but now… Now she had no idea of the effect it would have. Time had numbed those feelings.

She opened the door and stepped inside.

Ursula stood up from her chair and didn't know quite what to do with herself, aside from wordlessly offering the salute to her daughter who replied in kind before they just stared at each other wordlessly for a few moments.

"Ethel, how are you?" Ursula started awkwardly.

"I am fine. You? Dad? Is he taking his hearing potions?"

"I am fine and your father has been taking his potions as he should, everything is fine." Ursula said and gestured at the table. "There is some tea…" She looked at it and frown suspiciously; "Your grandmother made it for us so I don't recommend you touching it for all the obvious reasons." She said with annoyance.

"I hope we won't need it," Ethel said and looked at her "but we might and you know it."

"We've never been good at dealing with our feelings…" Ursula admitted. "But I've been thinking a lot about all the things you told me and how I have failed you." Her back tensed a little. "I- Growing up I-" She sighed deeply, frowning. "I don't know what to say!" She admitted. "When you were small, very small, Esmie was jealous of you, so she would just, pick you up and hide you around the house; Flower pots, chests, anywhere she could stuff you… We caught her a few times, made her tell us where she hid you, but soon enough, you were just… Finding your way back alone! You were just a baby and you would crawl right back to the place you should be all by yourself."

Ethel looked at her mother and said nothing, expression unreadable, but at least looked like she was willing to listen.

"I thought you would be alright, your father was right you are like me and your grandmother would always push me aside when I was growing up because she said Epona was the younger sister and she would need more support since, well, according to tradition she wouldn't get much, but I hated it. I always felt abandoned and unloved." She breathed out and added sarcastically. "All I had to do was keep this centuries long name going,keep the Hallow traditions and never let anyone subjugate or undermine us and I had to do it alone because your grandmother was never there since-"

"She thought you were strong enough to do it alone." Ethel surmised.

Ursula nodded sadly "I didn't notice I was doing the same to you… I just wanted to make sure Esme would be ready when her time came." She looked up at her then. "Building a legacy is hard, but shouldering one is harder."

Ethel thought of Mildred and how she and Gerry had spent quite some time trying to discover more about the Hubbles that came before her, her legacy was almost a lost one; "Our legacy… You know, I made a family tree in the second year and so did Millie. She said mine looked like a 'Family Argument' after I insulted hers in less witty way. Later that same year, when the founding stone lost its power and made magic go crazy enough that I got to meet them, my ancestors, the ones I admired, the roots of our name and they were… Despicable, to one another even… Is that what we do?"

"We don't always agree." Ursula tried to make it sound less bad then it was but Ethel went on.

"We fight and argue with one another until we are barely speaking anymore? I wonder how many of those had their backs turned to each other in disgust because they weren't the favorite child? When Millie and I found the dragon heart, it turned out it was Evelyn Hallow, leader of the Wicked Five, possessing Fern so she could come back from beyond the Veil. Her reasoning for why she did all the horrible things she did? She was the underated middle child, she felt unloved and I understood her!" She swallowed dry; "I hated that I understood her, and I wondered why I would be if-" looked down to her arms; "So many times I wondered if you really loved me..."

That made her mother look up at her, offended and shocked, her voice sounding heavy. "Of course I do! Did you really feel like-"

"I did. A few times."

Ursula leaned back on the chair, her hand covering her face, silence falling upon the room until she finally spoke up; "I just thought… I was so wrong." She went back into silence until it was broken by a sob that made Ethel look at her mother, surprised; "I assumed you would be fine, I was wrong." Her voice was weak.

"I was in the end," Ethel said, "Strong and independent after all, but getting there was-"

"Harder than it should have been." Ursula finished, remembering her own youth, looking away and forcing out the words that, despite her wanting to say them, more than anything, still came with some difficulty for her. "I am sorry." There was a long silence between the two women broken only by another quiet sob, another trying to break free which her mother choked back, before asking; "Could you ever forgive me?"

"I don't know… I have always found forgiveness hard."

A small, bitter smile crossed Ursula's face; "You really did take after me."

Ethel looked away, the same smile on her face. "Neither of us can run from that. Still… You apologised, you regret it and I never expected either, so I guess, that's a beginning, maybe I'll be able to forgive you next."

That was when mother hugged her, whispering quietly:

"I do love you… Never doubt that."

~0~

"Sybil, will you get away from there?" Esme whispered as her younger sister put her finger to her lips in a silencing gesture while slowly placing a cup's opening against the door and her ear on the other end, making Esme frown, college had given Sybil heaps of confidence, it seemed, for better or worse.

"They are actually talking!" Sybil whispered quietly but excited, then her excitement turned to sadness; "I think Ethel is sobbing…" She said and took the cup from the door and walked to the sofa to sit next to her grandmother and sister.

"That's not Ethel." Enya said from her chair, getting dubious looks from both her granddaughters. "Trust me, I know my daughter, nowadays more than ever." She took a breath, "Speaking of knowing my daughter and, by extension, granddaughters did you ask who declared themselves first?"

"Mildred." Sybil responded and both her and Esme pulled out their wallets, getting out 50 pounds each.

"Aha, what did I say?" Enya exclaimed and took the money from both blondes.

"We should have never bet against you." Sybil said. "I was really hoping they would do it at the same time."

"I actually thought Ethel would do it first. She seemed to be heading that way." Esmeralda crossed her arms and leaned against the sofa, but didn't look cross so much as slightly disappointed.

"You know, Ethel's change is going to be slower than you hope for, Esmie."

"Hallows don't change easily, I suppose." Esme conceded with a shrug.

"We are a stubborn bunch, but slowly, with time, we might… Sometimes, with the little help from a miracle, change for the better." Enya smiled.

The door to the office opened then, making all the three women in the living room stand up, as Ethel walked out, a little red around the eyes, but with a perfectly calm expression. "Alright, we are done..." The shoulders of all the other women sagged and Ethel rolled her eyes; "No no! We're fine, we talked! We are talking again now." She swallowed. "It's personal and we would keep it between us, if you wouldn't mind."

The other Hallow women sighed with relief and both Sybil and Esme went to her for a hug as Enya stayed behind, thanking her stars that her daughter finally recognised her mistakes and was trying to set them right while she could.

"Oh, Nan…" Ethel said; "Mother wants to talk to you now."

"Me?" Enya asked, surprised.

Ethel nodded and went back to hugging her sisters, as her grandma passed by them and went into the office.

Sybil looked at her. "You told her about Mildred didn't you?"

Esme lifted her head with the same question in mind and Ethel looked aside, making both of her sisters frown at her; "It didn't come up!" She justified herself at the censoring looks. "Look, I promise I will as soon as grandma and mother are done!"

"You'd better," Esme warned and rubbed her shoulder. "Don't you dare be ashamed of her!"

"I could never be…" She replied and laid her head on her big sister's shoulder and closed her eyes, finally relaxing.

 **3 - A Brief Interlude On The Speed In Which News Is Spread**

"And you didn't tell us until now?" Maud screamed at the mirror.

"Were you waiting for Sybil to be the one to tell us or something?" Enid continued.

"Oh come on! If she did it would only have been because she did caught us in bed together this morning." Mildred tried to explain herself to her very cross friends, but as soon as she realised what she said she blushed deeply, covering her face with both hands.

"WAIT! You slept with her already?" Enid said shocked. "You were with Gerry for over a month and you didn't sleep with her, but Ethel kisses you a few times and you just fall onto her bed?" She exchanged looks with Maud.

"I am impressed…" Maud admitted.

"Same, daum!" Enid praised and crossed her arms. "I didn't know Hallow had it in her."

"It was-" Millie blushed deeply remembering some of the things they did that night; "Pretty intense, I guess we both had a lot of bottled up feelings. ANYWAY! I didn't call you two earlier because, well, we got woken up by Sybil, then Ethel went to do her family thing, I came to see my dad's drag show with mum and- Look can't you guys come over next weekend?"

"Why don't YOU come over next weekend?" Said Enid while crossing her arms. "We are always going to you! Come over and bring Ethel!" She suddenly stopped. "Did I actually just say that?"

"These are strange times we are living in, my friend." Maud said and tapped her on the back.

"Alright, I'll go to you! I'll invite Ethel to come too… I mean, Sybil's apartment is not that far from your's, so maybe something comfortable can be arranged."

~0~

Mildred and Ethel crossed the campus talking to each other, while the other students observed and talked amongst themselves;

"When did it start?"

"The masquerade, I think, I saw them making out furiously in the middle of the ballroom."

"I thought that was Hawthorne…"

"Oh no, he just gave her his costume, so she could surprise Hallow."

"Wow, that's so romantic!"

Charlie let out an amused huff; "The news spread pretty fast around here." He told Gerry. "Seems like everybody already knows about our friends."

"Oh, those are just the nice things people are saying." Nick said, on the other side of Gerry. "The whole thing happened pretty fast and a lot of people are assuming Ethel was cheating on Zac or Millie was cheating on you."

"Millie and I were broken up for a week and that news spread like wildfire as well!"

"Not enough people heard about it, I suppose." Charlie said.

"Or, there are a whole lot of pricks that just want to talk shit." Nick suggested.

"Just as likely."

~0~

Miss Hardbroom looked over Mona Hallow and Henrietta Hubble's shoulders to their potion.

"Adequate." She judged before moving along to the other students, still paying attention to Mona and Henrietta. While Mildred and Ethel's rivalry was bad, it at least kept them from getting into the kind of trouble their younger cousins managed to get into together. In the end it seemed like the union of the two families was far more problematic than a rivalry between them.

"So, did your cousin tell you?" Mona Hallow asked while carefully weighing the ingredients of her potion in a quiet tone to Hettie, trying to keep HB from hearing.

"Tell me what?" The black haired girl asked as she looked up from her book.

"That she is dating my cousin Ethel now." The redhead said and looked at her friend over her glasses.

"Is she? Oh damn it, Millie, you never tell me anything!" Hettie said crossly and a little louder than she wanted to and made her look at up at Miss Hardbroom who was looking at her.

"Lower your voices." Was all she said, before transferring to her desk and picking up her maglet.

"Yes Miss Hardbroom..." Both girls said together before turning to their work again.

"How do you know that?" Hettie asked.

"Grandma was there… Apparently she won 100 pounds, 50 each, from my cousins. She was the one to bet that Mildred would confess first."

"Pff, of course Millie would fess up first!" Mona said with an expression conveying that expecting anything different would had been madness.

~0~

Ada was quietly petting her familiar and drinking tea while reading the newspaper when a message came to her maglet, absentmindedly she reached for it and read the note Hecate had sent her. Her jaw dropped open with joy, immediately jumping to the personal chat between the staff and writing down happily;

Ada: Wonderful news, everyone! Mildred and Ethel are finally dating!

Miss Bat: I KNEW IT!

Mr Rowan-Webb: No offence, but Mildred is too good for her…

Miss Drill: Oh, the girl has grown up, Argenor. I am happy for them both!

HB: I would say exactly the contrary!

Ada: No you wouldn't, Hecate, we all know that.

Miss Bat: You all will have to stop changing the subject and just pay me! Ten pounds a piece! Don't think I forgot!

Ada: Yes, that was the other thing. I believe Gwen and I will share the pot. o/

Miss Bat: \o

HB: Will you two stop with those silly symbols?

Miss Drill: It's a High Five, HB…

HB: A what?

Mr Rowan-Webb: I believe you'll know it better as a "High Pent", Hecate.

HB: Oh. Now that makes sense.

 **4 - Friends, Family and Faculty**

Ethel didn't actually want to go, but here they were in Maud and Enid's apartment for the night, waiting for Sybil to show up for the girls night out or whatever it was. No, she would much rather stay in the apartment, possibly with Mildred. Hell, she wouldn't mind going to Sybil's apartment since that one was, technically anyway, also Ethel's.

She huffed for the seventh time that night, flipping her wrist to look at her watch. "How much longer will they take to get here?"

"I don't know Ethel! Usually Sybil is pretty punctual and it's still fifteen minutes until it's time for them to come, so I would guess she will be here in fifteen minutes." Maud responded while rolling her eyes.

"Mildred and I could go there to see-"

"Oh no, we won't!" Millie said and crossed her arms. "I know what you're trying to do there, Hallow, and I am not buying it! You're just trying to find an excuse for us to be alone, but I won't let you! Stop being so grumpy and enjoy the night!" Millie said and then smiled, kissing her cheek just as Enid came in.

"WOOHOO! You go Millie! Show her who wears the enchanted strap-on in this relationship!" She said, raising her bottle in a toast, making Mildred and Maud laugh, but not Ethel, oh no…

Ethel turned completely red and looked at Mildred with fury in her eyes before saying tersely ; "I would appreciate if you didn't share our intimacy with your friends!"

That made Mildred and Maud blush and Enid splutter.

"Love, I didn't tell them anything…" Mildred whispered.

Enid laughed loudly. "I WAS JOKING! OH MY GOD, I WAS RIGHT?! MY GOD, HALLOW!... You're a bottom!" There was a transference into the apartment; "Ethel Hallow is a bottom! I can't believe this!"

There was dead silence until a small voice spoke;

"And I immediately regret coming in early…" Said Sybil standing in the living room, with a slightly green colored complexion.

"Oh…" Enid said in earnest. "Sorry about that?"

"That's ok." Sybil nodded, and nodded less as slowly her nod became her clearly shaking her head.

"Well" Maud said as she stood up, looking at Enid; "I am going to get the forgetfulness powder."

~0~

Mildred held her breath, looking upon the imposing light purple colored manor, surrounded by well manicured gardens and a few swans strolling about calmly, while she was just clinging to Ethel's broom for dear life, not from fear of flying, her mouth dry and throat lumped as they landed on the front lawn.

"Lets go." Ethel said serenely hopping off the broom, taking a hold of Mildred's hand, suddenly being held back when the other woman didn't move. "Mil?"

"Just, uh… Give me a minute." Mildred said, clutching onto her hand and taking deep, steadying breaths.

"My parents won't bite you!" Ethel tried to reassure her when the front door suddenly opened and a dog, much to Mildred's absolute shock, bolted out of the house towards Ethel, making her add "He might though… Hello, Sirius." She said as she addressed the dog, a long haired German Shepherd, that ran around her as he sniffed her all over, tail wagging and jumping in the air joyfully, but never touching Ethel.

"Ethel, you never told me that your family have a puppy!" Mildred exclaimed and immediately jumped down from the broom while offering her hand for the dog to sniff curiously and give his approval. "Hello Sirius, you good boy! Nice to meet you!" As soon as Sirius allowed it Mildred started petting the dog all over. "Look at you! So big and handsome!"

"He is not a puppy, Mildred, he is an adult to begin with and my dad's familiar."

Mildred giggled as the dog licked her face, totally ignoring Ethel. "AHAHA! Good puppy!"

"Ugh, Sirius…" Ethel said under her breath and patted his head perfunctorily. Familiars had an important place in the magical community, but they were still animals and knew what they liked. "Mildred, lets go. Sirius, back inside now!" She ordered and the dog looked at her before obeying, Mildred soon following, mostly attracted by having a dog lead her in.

At the door, waiting for them, stood the fluffiest, most regal black cat Mildred had ever seen, staring at her with judgmental grey eyes.

"Hello, Morningstar." Ethel said and walked by the cat inside the manor while holding Mildred's hand. The cat soon following behind them.

"I… I am still not sure about this." Millie whispered to her girlfriend, looking around the Hallow manor; the halls were well lit and the decor a mix of classical and modernity, with several generations of Hallow portraits hanging on the walls, the haughty looks from their occupants only making her more nervous and the rooms were also enormous, the overall smell made her think of her mother's workplace.

"Mum invited you herself and dad is making a roast, so you better calm down." Ethel said confidently; "And be sure to compliment my father's cooking, he is very sensitive about it."

"Should we have gone in without them?"

"It is my house and the familiars came to receive us," she pointed at the dog and cat behind and in front of them; "Trust me, Mother and Father know we are here and are probably waiting for us in the sitting room."

As Ethel led her to the sitting room Mildred held her breath when, upon entering, Ethel's parents stood up, seemingly towering over her, despite the fact that Ulisses was as tall as her and Ursula was easily the shortest person in the room.

"Miss Hubble, Ethel." Said Ulisses slowly, walking towards Millie and making the usual salute, which was reciprocated, rather awkwardly on Mildred's part. "I believe you know my wife already, Miss Hubble."

"Well, never formally, but of course." Millie said, super nervously, trying to force a smile and calming only when she felt Ethel's hand on her's. "Well met, Mrs. Hallow." She greeted and made the salute again to her.

"Well met, Miss Hubble. Dinner is ready, if you would follow me to the dining room."

"Of course ma'am." Mildred said, sounding oddly entusiastic and silently slapped her own forehead as soon as Ulisses and Ursula turned their backs.

"Smooth…" Ethel mouthed at her.

"Oh shut up!" Mildred mouthed back.

"Be a good girl, and I'll show you my room later." Ethel whispered with a grin and winked.

Mildred decided Ethel was not really helping.

Dinner, however, went rather well, despite the fact that part of the menu was frog legs and a whole pig, which Ursula had said herself were things she felt were a nice way to remind Mildred and Ethel of the way their relationship used to be when they were younger and used to turn each other into animals 'all the time'... Ethel wasn't happy about it, but they managed to survive the night, Ursula being on her best behaviour despite obviously still not liking Mildred, which was generally conveyed by my small snide comments and barbs over the course of the night.

Baby steps she supposed.

Plus, the whole meeting gave both couples a lot to talk about that night.

~0~

It was The Witchball Cup and Pentangles was kicking Cackles ass.

"Was this really worth making the trip all the way to Cackles on a weekend?" Ethel asked grumply. "These kids are nothing like us when we won the cup."

"They are doing their best, Ethel." Mildred reminded her. "It's not like it's a big problem anyway, we'll just spend the night at my mother's. Plus, most of the team this year are second and third years."

"So is the Pentangle team and they are doing well." Ethel shot back. "The only good player is your cousin, the poor girl is almost carrying the entire team."

"Give them a few years and they will be winning and jumping on top of each other and smacking their teammates in the face with their breasts." Mildred grinned.

"Will you stop mentioning that?" Ethel said and rolled her eyes.

"You almost knocked me out, Ethel!" Mildred said, with a teasing grin.

"Like you would complain about getting a face full of my breasts-"

"Mildred Hubble," A deliberated voice spoke from behind them, making both girls turn around at attention at the same time. "Ethel Hallow..." Miss Hardbroom held both her hands behind her. "I wasn't expecting to see you here this weekend."

"Our cousins are playing, Miss Hardbroom." Mildred said, her body tense in that special way only HB could get her in.

"And we won the cup in our last year, we thought it would be fun to come." Ethel said, reverting to the same tone she used with HB when she was much younger.

"Indeed. Miss Hubble has quite the potential as a player." Miss Hardbroom admitted.

"However, she isn't much like you otherwise." Ada said walking up to the trio, looking at her two former pupils with a smile. "Very confident. She said you taught her a thing or two before she came here."

Millie blushed; "Well, it's how a witching family should be, you teach the younger generation the best you can before they go to school and get, well" her eyes went from HB to Ada for a second with a small smile, "better teachers."

Hardbroom cleared her throat from the small lump that formed from hearing those words; "You didn't do a bad job yourself within your capacity." She raised her chin; "Of course, that must also explain why she lacks some discipline."

Mildred and Ethel did their best not to laugh from the tone that was so well known to them.

"Hopefully, she will do as well as Mildred in the end, Hecate." Ada told her with a smile and then turned to them; "How are you, girls? How is college coming along?" She asked and both women started speaking in turn about it, their hands finding each other and fingers lacing together.

She listened with rapt attention, but in her mind's eye for a second, she could swear she saw the little girls dressed in yellow and purple who came for selection day, a flood of memories rushing forth; Millie losing her breakfast over the transference spell, Ethel's haughty demeanour she used to hide her insecurities. Several years; Ethel calling Mildred back in the end of the first year, their friendship trap, Ethel's slow change over the last few years at the school, that dragon attack, the Halloween curse, Agatha's return… How the two of them were so small, and how slowly they grew to tower over her.

"I am glad everything is going so well for you both." Hardbroom said "I am surprised you two haven't come across some trouble, like meeting an old spirit, ripping the Veil or finding a dragon's heart in some ridiculous location underneath your college." She said and could swear that the girls looked at her in a strange way once she was done.

"Nope, that didn't happen at all." Mildred smiled openly.

"Well, we'll let you enjoy the game, girls. I believe Miss Hallow is about to score again."

Just like that, Mona threw the ball right into the basket, making Cackle's situation look slightly less awful.

~0~

"Ah, there you are, tadpole!" Mr Rowan-Webb said, walking towards Millie with the help of his cane, age getting to him and Miss Bat. "And Miss Hallow, it's a pleasure to see you as well." He smiled at them, Miss Bat right by his side, as they leaned on each other.

Millie smiled at them; "It's great to see you both!"

"We are glad to see you finally found it." Miss Bat said and looked at Millie.

"The other heart, yes." Mildred smiled and Miss Bat smiled back at her, along with Mr. Rowan-Webb, leaving only Ethel without any understand of it.

"Oh yes, the reason I asked you to come." Mr Rowan-Webb and pulled a rolled up parchment from his desk. "Here, I found it for you. I know it isn't much, but it's a start."

"What is this?" Millie asked, starting to open it.

"A clue, we believe." Said Miss Bat.

"Of the whereabouts of the Hubble family Grimoire." Mr Rowan-Webb continued. "Unfortunately, we couldn't find the Grimoire itself, no spell could detect it, we expected that, since we are not members of the Hubble family, but you might… The parchment will help."

"And also, has a drawing of what your family Crest was." Miss Bat said excitedly and pointed at it.

The shield was divided into four parts; one with a witch's hat, one with a cauldron, one with a tabby cat and the final one with a hand casting a spell. Under it there were two crossed brooms, above a banner with 'Hubble' and below another one with the family motto 'Cauldron bubble, toil and trouble.'

Mildred's eyes were focused on the parchment, slowly filling with tears and she looked up, hugging both Miss Bat and Mr Rowan-Webb gratefully, while, behind her, Ethel promised herself she would find that Grimoire for her.

 **5 - Lovers**

It was over the course of a few months that it all happened and sometimes Mildred found herself asking what if's; What if Ethel haven't gotten drunk? What if she hadn't brought her home? What if she didn't become Ethel's roommate or started dating Gerry? What if she didn't take the pond weed or didn't talk to or meet Maud, but this time there was a new question, one she verbalized to Ethel one night, as she was snuggled up against her chest;

"Ethie… What comes next?" She asked, quietly, her hand running up and down Ethel's back.

"Spring break is coming soon, I think." She responded sleepily with her arms around Mildred who giggled.

"Not in college, I mean…" Mildred gestured with her free hand "I mean in life."

"College is part of our lives right now." The blonde pointed out snuggling against her neck.

"I suppose…" Millie conceded deciding Ethel was maybe too sleepy to think about it now.

Realizing her silence wasn't good, however, made the blonde respond a little more coherently; "I guess I know what you mean." She admitted. "It was an unexpected turn of events to say the least… All around."

"If someone told me six months ago I would be happily sharing a bed with you, I wouldn't have believed them."

Ethel huffed with laughter. "If someone told me that two months ago I wouldn't have believe it either, and I was already in love with you, just in denial about it."

"According to Sybil, it's been longer than that…" Millie said with a grin and got a slap on her shoulder for her trouble, which only made her grin more. "Come on, just admit you had a crush on me since at least… Hmmm, third year?"

"Giving yourself too much credit, Hubble…"

"Fourth then?" She smirked and Ethel let out a frustrated groan, that made Millie chuckle and kiss her forehead. "I'll stop, but I am still interested in where we go from here."

"Well, apparently Esme and Erik have been talking about getting married so you can look forwards to the nightmare that will be my mother organizing a wedding." Ethel said and moved up to kiss her gently.

"Wouldn't Esme organize her own wedding?"

Ethel chuckled to herself; "With Mother around? Yeah, no, she isn't going to. Unless she keeps the whole thing a complete secret until the very last minute."

"I don't think that would be possible, no." Mildred chuckled.

Ethel moved to lay on top of her, hugging her close. "My family is very good at keeping an eye on people. Mother even knew you were living here before I told anyone not even Esme or Sybil knew at that point." She kissed her on the lips. "Why are you suddenly so worried about the future?"

Millie let out a small sigh, putting their foreheads together; "I've been thinking what I want to do after college." She admitted. "Alchemy pays very well, and most alchemists are more valued by who they apprentice under or by their own fame, but what I really want to do is be an artist. I'd be happy teaching art at a small magical school even."

"You'd be happy working at a non-magical animal shelter even." Ethel joked, raising an eyebrow and kissing her again, more deeply this time. "Don't worry about it, you still have a few more years of college to figure it out, so you can relax for now."

Millie smiled; "You're right." She said and relaxed, kissing her quickly; "Plus, if all else fails, I guess 'Trophy Wife of a Hallow' is an option."

Both chuckled tiredly and with a snap of her fingers, Ethel made the lights go off and they fell asleep in each other's arms.

(The End)


End file.
